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In 1752 Benjamin Franklin attaches a metal wire and key to a kite and flies the contraption during a thunderstorm in order to successfully prove that lightning is a form of electricity.
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Thomas Edison successfully demonstrates the electric light bulb and generator. Newspapers declare the era of electricity has begun.
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Development begins on the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project, a massive plant designed to transmit power to Buffalo, NY, more than 20 miles away. The era of central generation and long-distance transmission begins.
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Wisconsin enacts the first law designed to regulate power companies. The law creates a commission to set rates for private utilities. Other states quickly follow. Within nine years, 30 states have some form of utility regulation.
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower makes his “Atoms for Peace” speech before the United Nations, advocating for the peaceful use of nuclear power.
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The average American home has at least 12 electrical appliances.
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Congress enacts the Clean Air Act, which requires utilities to invest in costly anti-pollution technology.
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The nation’s first highly publicized and potentially serious nuclear accident occurs at Three Mile Island, about three miles from the Pennsylvania capital, Harrisburg. Americans turn against nuclear power and demand stricter and more expensive regulation. Meanwhile, the cost of building many of these reactors turn out to be far greater than anticipated.
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Wholesale electricity trading is going full force. While approximately 100 million kilowatt-hours were traded over power lines in 1996, by 2000 that figure has soared to just less than 4,500 million.
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Thousands of electricity consumers in New York, California, St. Louis and Chicago lose power as the system struggles and ultimately fails to keep up with demand triggered by summer heat.
