Don Moore has lived and worked in Redding since 1956, when he drove up here from Yuba City on Old 99. He is now semi-retired; he was head counselor at Enterprise High School for 17 years, and at Pioneer High School for 18 years. He now does counseling at Shasta College for the GAIN program, helping AFDC recipients. This article is condensed from his 1961 Chico State Master's thesis.

One of the most vital issues before the people of California has been the development of the northern California water resources, along with the production and distribution of electrical energy. A look at the history of the electrical system of Redding is part of the larger picture of public vs. private power.

Redding does not produce power; Redding only distributes it to the homes and businesses of the city. Redding's first experience with the distribution of electrical power came when the city took over the street lighting system in 1916.

The history of this city public utility began with the early City Trustees' dissatisfaction with the street lighting system provided by the Northern California Power Company since 1914, and culminated with the buy-out of the electrical facilities of the PG&E in 1921.

Redding, 1914

The City of Redding had a population of about 5,000 people in 1914. It had four hotels, four banks (with over $2 million in deposits), a postal savings bank, a large department store, four grammar schools and one high school. The City had its own municipal buildings and ran its own fire department. It operated a gravel crushing plant for the construction of city streets, and maintained its own sewerage system. The privately owned Northern California Power Company, Consolidated, supplied the city with water, gas and electricity.

In 1915, Redding was on the path of the Pacific Highway that was being constructed by the State. Improved roads were beginning to radiate out from Redding as the automobile was making its appearance on the local scene. Redding's economic base rested on mining, forestry, farming, and railroad transportation, and it was an important freight depot for the northern counties. It was also the county seat.

Shasta County and Redding were favored in 1914, as today, with large water resources. At that time, the Northern California Power Company was producing about 54,000 horsepower of hydroelectric power in Shasta County.

Arc lights and dissension, 1914-1917

For some time, the city trustees had been dissatisfied with Northern California Power Company's street lighting system. The arc lights provided by the company for the city were not as effective as they should have been.

In November, 1915, the company representative told the city Board of Trustees that it would agree to certain improvements, "if the agitation about a lighting system" were dropped, and if the Board would sign a ten-year contract. The Board did not act on this, and the feeling was that the power company seemed to have a policy of "the public be damned."

Ernest A. Rolison, then city engineer, reported at the March 6, 1916 Board meeting that "64 arc lights had been found not burning during the month of February." In August, there were some 91 lights out. Since there were about 35 arc lights scattered around the city, this meant the system had many intermittent failures during the month.

In February, 1916, the Board of Trustees passed a resolution indicating their desire to build a municipal lighting system. The proposed ordinance carried a petition with some 279 signatures. A municipal election was set for April 10, 1916, to elect city officers and for the ordinance, which read:

Shall the ordinance providing for the installation and equipment of a municipal lighting system for the City of Redding, known as a low voltage series system be adopted?

The vote was 669 for, and 363 against. The city was committed to building its own system.

Many of the people who voted "yes" were prominent business mean, and some, such as Sherman C. Shadwell, were on the Board of Trustees.

Redding secured the street lighting system, such as it was, built its own lighting facilities, and modernized the street lights so they provided better illumination than the arc lights and cost less to operate. By 1917, the lighting venture was so successful that the Board of Trustees was receiving inquiries from other municipalities about the project. It set a precedent for other cities to acquire their own street lighting facilities.

Redding Electrical Department

On January 23, 1918, the trustees met to discuss the expansion of the system by taking over all of Northern California Power Company's electrical distribution system within the city. The company provided gas and water as well as electricity, but the trustees were interested only in the system for distribution of power and light. They asked power company officials to submit a price for which they would be willing to sell. The power company asked for the sum of $261,309.01, which the trustees thought too high, and litigation followed.

City Engineer Rolison had a set of plans outlining the system of the Northern California Power Company. He estimated a duplicate system at 1918 prices would cost $40,000, so the Board of Trustees went ahead and set a bond election for April, 1918, to allow the city to sell $40,000 of 6% bonds to buy the electrical utility.

The bonds passed by a wide margin, 739 for and 254 against. In the same election, all incumbent trustees were returned to office. The last payment on this issue of bonds was made in 1961.

In May, 1918, immediately after the election, the City filed its application with the State Railroad Commission (the body empowered by the Public Utilities Act of 1911 to regulate utility rates) to fix the amount of compensation to be paid to the Northern California Power Company for its property.

The first hearings in this dispute were held in Redding on February 27, 1919, and in San Francisco on March 18. These hearings were only the first of many that would be held before the conflict was resolved.

The interesting question of the profitableness of the Redding system came up during the litigation proceedings, and a detailed analysis of the accounts of the Northern California Power Company's electrical business in Redding was made by the engineers for both the company and the Railroad Commission.

These figures showed revenue of $38,452. Expenses (including operation, maintenance, rent, taxes, cost of energy, depreciation, etc.) were $27,757, for a profit of $10,695. Obviously, the power company had been doing well in Redding.

In the fall of 1919, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) bought the rights and property of the Northern California Power Company, and entered into the legal battle represented by Charles P. Cutten. PG&E became the eventual loser.

It took three years to reach the final settlement. The Railroad Commission (later known as the Public Utilities Commission) moved with great deliberation; they were aware of the importance of this decision. Because of the ramifications of the Redding dispute, the Commission eventually handed down four decisions before the electrical utility changed hands. The deliberations established a value of $57,352.68 (plus court costs of $3.50). Redding brought suit in the Superior Court of Shasta County to condemn the property for the City's use. In these eminent domain proceedings, the court accepted the Railroad Commission's findings on just compensation.

Redding moved quickly to acquire the distribution system. In December, 1921, to make up the $17,000 or so difference between the bond issue and the purchase price, the trustees moved $10,000 from the general fund. In addition some of the leading businessmen of Redding paid their electric bills in advance in return for a 7% discount on their electrical bill. The trustees also resolved that no preferential rates were to be given to employees of the city, or anyone else.

Redding took possession of the electric utility on December 21, 1921, at 2:00 in the afternoon. The City entered into a contract with PG&E to buy electric power at a wholesale rate, and began to distribute its own electricity on that December date.

By the end of the following year, Redding was successfully running its own electric distribution system, making a net gain of some $29,820 for the first year of operation. The money borrowed from the General Fund was returned and some $7,500 was transferred to finance road paving in the city. The first $1,000 bond was paid off, and the plant was improved some $6,699. Redding's municipal electrical distribution system was off to a flying start.

Redding was the first city in northern California to acquire a public electric utility through eminent domain proceedings, a significant step in the resolution of public vs. private power.

The city has been receiving its wholesale power from Federal sources since 1960. The work of those early trustees in acquiring a public utility through arduous hearings and numerous investigations (sans air conditioning) has given the citizens of Redding the electric utility they enjoy today.

We would like to thank Donald Moore and the Shasta Historical Society for this Article.