Newfoundland Power Inc. is an electric utility owned by Fortis Inc. which is the primary retailer of electric power in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador . The company was formed by the Royal Securities Corporation of Montreal in 1924 as the Newfoundland Light & Power Company .
7-477: In the year of its incorporation it purchased the assets of the St. John's Light and Power Company which had been formed originally by Robert Gillespie Reid as the St. John's Street Railway Company in 1896. Those assets included Newfoundland and Labrador's first hydro electric generating station at Petty Harbour , Petty Harbour Hydro Electric Generating Station . After 1924 Newfoundland Light & Power Company became
14-635: A subsidiary of the International Power Company, and it remained a subsidiary until 1949, when the parent company sold its shares in it to the general public. The Newfoundland Light & Power Company supplied the general needs of the St. John's urban area and operated the city's electrical street car system. In 1948 the street railway was disbanded and the company became solely an electric company. Newfoundland Power operates 23 hydro generating plants, three diesel plants and three gas turbine facilities for
21-627: A total installed capacity of 139.4 MW. See also: List of generating stations in Newfoundland and Labrador. Download coordinates as: Robert Gillespie Reid Sir Robert Gillespie Reid (12 October 1842 – 3 June 1908) was a Scottish railway contractor most famous for building large railway bridges in Canada and the United States . Founder of Reid Newfoundland Company , from 1889 until his death, he built, owned, and operated
28-800: The Newfoundland Railway . As a young man, Reid spent a few years in Australia mining gold. In 1871, Reid settled in North America, where he began his career as a contractor. He built one section of the Canadian Pacific Railway , and was responsible for the erection of the international bridge over the Niagara River , the international railway bridge over the Rio Grande and the Lachine bridge over
35-477: The St. Lawrence . Reid brought his business ventures to Newfoundland in 1889. In 1893, he signed a contract with the government of Newfoundland, and as president of the Reid Newfoundland Company he built the railway from Whitbourne to Port aux Basques . The contract specified he work the line for ten years. In return he received a large grant of land. In 1898, he further contracted to work all
42-517: The governor, Sir Herbert Murray , refused to ratify it. After the premier, James Spearman Winter , had been replaced by Robert Bond , the terms of the contract were revised, being made more favourable to Newfoundland, and Reid's interests were transferred to a company, the Reid Newfoundland Company, of which he was the first president. The Reid Newfoundland Company owned and operated the Whitbourne to Port aux Basques railway for 33 years and also ran
49-402: The railways in Newfoundland for fifty years on condition that at the end of this time they should become his property. This bargain, which included other matters such as steamers, docks and telegraphs, was extraordinarily favourable to Reid, who, by further enormous grants of land, became one of the largest landed proprietors in the world. Public opinion was aroused against the deal, and at first
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