Montreal Light, Heat & Power
Montreal Light, Heat and Power ( MLH & P) was a Canadian electric utilities in the province of Quebec. Founded in 1901, it gained a monopoly on gas and electricity in the Montreal region. In 1944 the company was nationalized and went up in the Hydro-Québec.
History
End of the 19th century, numerous small companies allocated to the Canadian energy market. The fast pace of industrialization required a consolidation so that the expansion of electricity supply was at all affordable. 1900 began Rodolphe Forget ( owner of Royal Electric Company) and Herbert Samuel Holt ( owner of the Montreal Gas Company ) with negotiations on a merger. One of Holt's conditions was that he would be president of the new company. The bold for its time fusion project met in the Montreal business community with skepticism.
The founding of the Montreal Light, Heat & Power took place on 28 March 1901, Holt President and Forget as Vice President. The Board of Directors consisted of prominent businessmen and politicians, including Montagu Allan, Narcisse Pérodeau and Robert Mackay. The new company also has two subsidiaries of the Royal Electric Company went on: the Montreal and St. Lawrence Light and Power Company and the Imperial Electric Light Company.
In the following years the MLH & P company acquired more and gained thereby in the Montreal region, a monopoly in the supply of energy. It resulted in several new hydroelectric power plants, including Les Cedars, Rivière -des- Prairies and Beauharnois. In the 1930s, the MLH & P acquired the distribution companies of several communities who were suffering financial hardship. The monopoly has allowed the company that practically fixed electricity and gas prices at will and achieve big gains.
Against the high prices and poor service of MLH & P was stirring in the 1930s violent political resistance, especially as the province of Quebec was particularly hard hit by the global economic crisis and the industry had to rely on cheaper energy. The set up in 1934 by Louis -Alexandre Taschereau Prime Minister Lapointe Commission proposed the regulation of the energy market. However, several new supervisors had little influence on the business practices of MLH & P. Finally, the Government of Adélard Godbout 1944 decreed the nationalization of all gas and electricity plants in the Montreal region. This was the birth of Hydro-Québec. The compensation of all shareholders lasted until 1953.