And few in Waterloo Region are aware that three of the fathers of hydro power come from this own area. Daniel Detweiler was the dreamer who first promoted the idea of providing low cost electric power to Ontarians. Today in Kitchener, one of the main transformer stations in the city still carries the name Detweiler station. In 1902, E.W.B. Smith from Berlin lobbied for a meeting of area leaders to discuss how to bring power from Niagara Power to the area. One year later a meeting was held and included the then mayor of London - Adam Beck, who by the way was born in New Hamburg.
Power is produced by generators which use coal, gas, water or nuclear fission to create it.
It is then sent along the high voltage transmission grid to communities where, until November of last year, public municipal utilities took that power, transformed it into lower voltage levels and distributed it to every customer in their own catchment area. Electricity must always be manufactured exactly when its needed, with producers continually matching a demand that fluctuates significantly with conditions such as weather and time. The transmission grid's load and its capacity to handle the load are in constant flux as well, and any congestion at any point in the system affects all other parts of the system. Hydro One is already the monopoly transmission company that owns all the high tension wires and towers that transmit electricity in this new system. It seems plausible at this time to envision the opening of the generation portion to competition, while at the same time watching as Hydro One controls all the transmission and a majority of the distribution too.