Pacific Power was the state owned monopoly power generator in the state of
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. The corporation was formed from the
New South Wales Electricity Commission in 1995. It was broken up into
TransGrid
Transgrid is the manager and operator of the high voltage electricity transmission network in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM). The company's offices are locate ...
,
Delta Electricity
Delta Electricity is an electricity generation company in Australia. The company was formed by the Government of New South Wales in 1996 as part of its reform of the electricity sector in the State, which saw the breakup of the Electricity Comm ...
,
Eraring Energy
Eraring Energy was an electricity generation company in Australia that was owned by the Government of New South Wales, and had a portfolio of generating sites using thermal coal, wind, and hydroelectric power. It was sold to Origin Energy in 20 ...
and
Macquarie Generation
Macquarie Generation is an electricity generation company in New South Wales, Australia, owned by AGL Energy, and has a portfolio of generating sites using predominantly thermal coal power. The company now trades as AGL Macquarie and generates ...
in between 1995 and 2003. The consultancy division, Pacific Power International was acquired by
Connell Wagner
Aurecon Group Pty Ltd is an Australian engineering, project management and consulting company based in Docklands, Victoria
Docklands is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the western end of the Melbourne central bus ...
at the same time.
Electricity Commission of New South Wales
The Electricity Commission of New South Wales, sometimes called Elcom, was a statutory body responsible for the generation of electricity and its bulk transmission throughout
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. The Commission was established on 22 May 1950 by the Electricity Commission Act 1950 and its role was to take over power generation responsibility from the County Councils (such as the
Sydney County Council
The Sydney County Council (SCC) was a County council (New South Wales), county council established in 1935 to produce electricity and operate the electricity network in a number of municipalities in metropolitan Sydney.
SCC was established by t ...
) and the railways, who until that time were responsible for power generation and distribution. It acquired the power stations and main transmission lines of the four major supply authorities (
Southern Electricity Supply,
Sydney County Council
The Sydney County Council (SCC) was a County council (New South Wales), county council established in 1935 to produce electricity and operate the electricity network in a number of municipalities in metropolitan Sydney.
SCC was established by t ...
, the
Department of Railways and the
Electric Light and Power Supply Corporation Ltd, known as the Balmain Company). The commission was responsible for the centralised co-ordination of the states electricity generation and supply.
Between 1950 and 1960 the commission more than trebled power capacity, from 490 megawatts to 1800. At first, this involved completing the expansions of
Bunnerong,
White Bay,
Balmain, and
Pyrmont, and completing new stations already designed by the Department of Railways:
Tallawarra near Port Kembla (1954),
Wangi, at Lake Macquarie (1956), and
Wallerawang
Wallerawang is a small township in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately northwest of Lithgow adjacent to the Great Western Highway. It is also located on the Main Western railway line at the junctio ...
, near Lithgow (1957).
Electricity Commission of New South Wales Trading as Pacific Power
The Electricity Commission adopted the trading name Pacific Power in 1992.
Pacific Power
The corporation was formed from the
New South Wales Electricity Commission in 1995.
In the early 1990s, Australian state governments began to deregulate state owned monopoly electricity commissions in order to promote competition, customer choice and potentially cheaper electricity. In 1995, the transmission assets were split off into a new organisation called
Transgrid
Transgrid is the manager and operator of the high voltage electricity transmission network in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM). The company's offices are locate ...
. In 1996, two new entities were split off -
Delta Electricity
Delta Electricity is an electricity generation company in Australia. The company was formed by the Government of New South Wales in 1996 as part of its reform of the electricity sector in the State, which saw the breakup of the Electricity Comm ...
and
Macquarie Generation
Macquarie Generation is an electricity generation company in New South Wales, Australia, owned by AGL Energy, and has a portfolio of generating sites using predominantly thermal coal power. The company now trades as AGL Macquarie and generates ...
. In 2000, the remaining power stations were transferred to a new entity,
Eraring Energy
Eraring Energy was an electricity generation company in Australia that was owned by the Government of New South Wales, and had a portfolio of generating sites using thermal coal, wind, and hydroelectric power. It was sold to Origin Energy in 20 ...
, and the consulting business sold to
Connell Wagner
Aurecon Group Pty Ltd is an Australian engineering, project management and consulting company based in Docklands, Victoria
Docklands is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the western end of the Melbourne central bus ...
.
Pacific Power was then closed in 2003.
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References
{{EnergyNSW
Defunct government-owned companies of Australia
Government-owned companies of New South Wales
Defunct utility companies of New South Wales
Defunct electric power companies of Australia
Australian companies established in 1995
Energy companies established in 1995
Australian companies disestablished in 2003
Energy companies disestablished in 2003