ANAHEIM : Wired to Celebrate 100 Light Years

In the mid-1890s, downtown merchants decided they needed a way to keep customers in the area after dark.

The answer: electric lights.

Less than a year later, the merchants got their wish when the city completed its own electric plant. The facility, which initially lit 175 incandescent lamps and 22 arc lamps, was Southern California’s first municipally owned utility.

Today, the city marks the centennial of its electric utility with a street celebration in front of City Hall West, now the Public Utilities Department’s headquarters.

“It’s a great source of pride for Anaheim,” said Brenda Parker, a utilities department spokeswoman. “It’s exactly 100 years to when people started to see the lights burning bright in the city.”

In June, 1894, the city embarked on a plan to build its own electric plant, and voters overwhelmingly approved a bond issue to pay for the facility that October, said Steve Faessel, a member of the Anaheim Electric Centennial Committee.

“It cost $7,000 to build, which wouldn’t take you very far today,” Faessel said. “But back then, it was quite a bit of money.”

The same day the plant was completed, the city abolished the office of city lamplighter, and before long, electric lights and street lamps began replacing coal oil lamps and street lanterns.

The utility, which served fewer than 100 customers in its first year, has grown to serve more than 5 million who pay rates that are about 25% lower than those in neighboring cities.

Customers actually paid more for their electricity during the plant’s first year of operation than they do today: 30 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 10 cents today.

A new, expanded plant was completed in 1907 and gave customers 24-hour-a-day service. Electricity had been limited from dusk until midnight.

The centennial street fair will take place just outside of City Hall West, 201 S. Anaheim Blvd., from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Also marking the anniversary is an Anaheim Museum exhibit that traces the utility’s history. It will run until June 3. The museum is at 241 S. Anaheim Blvd.

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Electric Story

A look at the Anaheim Electric Utility when it began in 1895 and as it is now:

1895 1995 Capacity 500 lights 5.3 million 100-watt bulbs Billing Rates 30 cents 10 cents per kilowatt hour Customers Fewer than 100 103,545 Employees Fewer than 5 More than 400

Source: City of Anaheim