2017 has been a special year for Spencerport Municipal Electric Department with the celebration of 100 years of service to village residents.
A luncheon to mark the centennial was held in October, and Village Mayor Gary Penders says municipal electric offers many benefits to its customers.
Rates for Village of Spencerport customers are some of the lowest in the state, Mayor Penders says, and, “The electric crew’s quick response time keeps outages short and aids in the event of a fire or accident when electric is involved.”
Penders notes that although the governor does not consider hydropower renewable, he feels that because the village’s electric energy source is hydropower, it is a renewable energy.
Spencerport Municipal Electric also provides a source of reliable electricity. “Because of upgrading and rebuilding of our electric system over the past 15 years, our outages to our customers have been greatly reduced. Jack Linder and Owen McIntee took a position to rebuild and build circuits that have made our electric franchise very dependable and efficient,” Mayor Penders explains.
“If the electric franchise would come to an end for some reason, it would be a situation that would cause a hardship to every customer enjoying its present benefits, both in reliability and in cost to everyone,” Mayor Penders observes. “As a municipal village government, we are always concerned with maintaining our electric now and in the years to come.”
The village provided a brief history of Spencerport Village Municipal Electric. In 1902, the village established an acetylene gas plant to pipe gas to street lamps and businesses. In 1907, permission was granted to Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Co. to install a line through the village which led to the building and operation of the Buffalo, Lockport and Rochester railroad (trolley) through the village along West Avenue.
In 1915, an electric street lighting system was established, and the PSC approved the system for municipal purposes only. The system included 14 concrete post lights on Main Street and 75 overhead fixtures, two 75KVA single phase transformers, and additional equipment purchased for a new electricity plant. In 1916, some homes and businesses were wired for electricity and on March 1, 1917, the Public Service Commission granted approval to build and operate a municipal electric plant and sell electricity to customers. Power was purchased from the Niagara Hudson Power Company.
