Power for the People: A History of Seattle City Light - Rilegato

The century-long history of Seattle City Light is among the most remarkable in the United States utility industry. Founded in 1911 under municipal ownership to provide a more stable, reliable, and inexpensive alternative to the small private utilities of the day, City Light promptly embarked on a program of dam building in the challenging gorges of the Skagir River. The dams soon provided an abundant supply of energy that gave Seattle the lowest electric-power rates in the nation and contributed to the city's emergence as a center of manufacturing and technology.

These accomplishments were far from simple to achieve, however. For decades, City Light fought for dominance with private and investor-owned utilities. Later, it struggled for years to align its hiring and promotion policies with contemporary practices. Then the utility was sideswiped by both the nuclear-power debacle of the Washington Public Power Supply System and the power crisis of 2000-2001, which crupted in California and scorched consumers all along the West Coast.

New energy and environmental realities fostered a fundamental change in City Light's strategic approach to providing power. The utility, which had grown and prospered by relentlessly promoting electricity consumption, successfully reversed course and became a champion of energy conservation and the search for new renewable power sources. In 2005, City Light became the first major electric utility to boast net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.