The Boston Edison Company (BECo) was incorporated as the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston in 1886.; citing: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 12. St. James Press, 1996. It was one of the earliest

electric utility An electric utility, or a power company, is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. Electric utilities are ...

companies in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. The company was formally renamed the Boston Edison Company in June 1937, although it had also been previously known by this name informally.

Electric vehicles

Edward S. Mansfield was placed in charge of the company's activities in relation to

electric vehicles An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

. On 3 April 1911, EEICB organized a conference at the Hotel Thorndike, in Boston to encourage closer co-operation between

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

manufacturers and

central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

managers in the Boston area. Dugald C. Jackson attended and promised the support of MIT in providing scientific research to support the development of the electric vehicle industry.

Timeline

* 1886 - Incorporated as the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston * 1901 - Acquired Suburban Light and Power Company * 1902 - Acquired Boston Electric Light Company (making Boston Edison a monopoly in the city) * 1903 - Acquired Milton Light and Power Company, Framingham Electric Company, Somerville Electric Light Company, and three others * 1904 -

Boston Edison Power Station The Boston Edison Power Station is a historic power station at 374 Homer Street in Newton, Massachusetts. Built in 1904 and twice enlarged, it is a significant reminder of the city's early electrification efforts, providing power to both area bu ...

constructed * 1916 - Boston Edison installs first master clock invented by

Telechron Telechron was an American company that manufactured electric clocks between 1912 and 1992. "Telechron" is derived from the Greek word''tele'' meaning "far off," an''chronos'' "time," thus referring to the transmission of time over long distances. ...

founder

Henry Ellis Warren Henry Ellis Warren (May 21, 1872 – September 21, 1957) was an American inventor, best known as the inventor of the first synchronous electric clock. He has been called the "father of electric time". Biography Warren was born in Boston in 1872 a ...

to transmit 60 hertz of alternating current to synchronous electric clocks * 1923 - Mobile radio station WTAT starts operation * 1924 - Radio station WEEI starts operation now (

WEZE WEZE (590 AM) – branded 590 AM The Word – is a commercial Christian radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by Salem Communications, WEZE is the Boston affiliate f ...

) * 1925 - Edgar Station starts operation in Weymouth * 1937 - Officially renamed as Boston Edison Company * 1943 -

Mystic Generating Station The Mystic Generating Station was a power station in the state of Massachusetts (on the border between Everett and Boston) which, for a while, had the highest nameplate capacity of any station in the state. It was capable of burning both natural ...

starts operation * 1967 - Member of Eastern Massachusetts and Vermont Energy Control in 1967 * 1969 - Member of Rhode Island-Eastern Massachusetts-Vermont Energy Control * 1971 - Member of New England Power Pool * 1972 -

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (PNPS) is a closed nuclear power plant in Massachusetts in the Manomet section of Plymouth on Cape Cod Bay, south of the tip of Rocky Point and north of Priscilla Beach. Like many similar plants, it was constructe ...

starts operation (under construction since 1967) * 1993 - Development of smart meters that communicate by radio

Disappearance as independent company

In 1999 it was merged with Cambridge Electric Light Company, Commonwealth Electric Company, and NSTAR Gas Company to form NSTAR. After subsequent mergers, what remains of the Boston Edison Company is now part of

Eversource Energy Eversource Energy is a publicly traded, Fortune 500 energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, with several regulated subsidiaries offering retail electricity, natural gas service and water service to appr ...

South Boston power plant

The company operated the L Street Power Plant (now 776 Summer Street) in South Boston, which was constructed in 1898, with the turbine hall constructed in 1903. At the time of decommissioning it belonged to

Exelon Exelon Corporation is an American public utility headquartered in Chicago, and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the Uni ...

, which sold it for redevelopment in 2016. The Exelon New Boston Power Plant had been built on the same property without demolishing the original Edison building. Real estate firms Redgate and Hilco Redevelopment proposed a mixed-use development, which would require the state to release a 2014 deed restriction prohibiting residential construction. The site adjoins

Conley Terminal The Port of Boston (AMS Seaport Code: 0401, UN/LOCODE: US BOS) is a major seaport located in Boston Harbor and adjacent to the City of Boston. It is the largest port in Massachusetts and one of the principal ports on the East Coast of the United ...

and its

haul road A haul road (also ''haulage road'' or haul track) is a term for roads designed for heavy or bulk transfer of materials by haul trucks in the mining industry. It is also used for freight-only roads in other contexts, for example in South Boston leadi ...

(which is the reason for the restriction), and a reserved shipping channel.Legislature may get involved in fight over housing at old power plant in South Boston
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edison Company, Boston Electric power companies of the United States 1886 establishments in Massachusetts