The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-07-13
Electric Concern Sold Out to ! syn
dieste q Capitalists Who Are
interested IN the Big
keokuk Project
CONTRACTS ARE MADE
Company g Sell Electric Power from
the keokuk Dam, supply 10
p Started BY the Year
1914.

The following water power article
- clipped from recent issue Of The
st Louis Post-Dispatch:
The recent transfer OF the Lacleda
Gas Light Co. from the North Amer.
can Co. to a syndicate Of local cant.
taiists discloses three facts which NAV
have an important bearing on electric
light rates In st. Louis:
l. That the North American r.
has bound the Union Electric Iieht
and Power Co. and the Laclede Gas
Light Co under contracts to purchase
all their electric current from tha
Transmission Co.. which is to taka
the supply Of electricity generated
by the water-power plant to be bum
at Keokuk, Iowa.
2 That the North American e.
VIII control the Keokuk power plant
when it is completed
= That the rates to be paid by IN.
ion Electric and Laclede Gas for cur.
rent are higher than the cost of,ren.
Grating electricity in ST.. Louis.
The new owners OF tie Laclede Gas
Light Co may undertake to break tha
contract with the Transmission O.
because experts regard 1t as an unfay.
orable contract fer the local corpora,
ton. The gas company now distrjb.
utes some electricity which it oh
tains from the Union Electric Light
and Power Co.
When W ". n. Powelson retired 40
president and general manager of I'm.
lon Electric year ago. he associated
himself in New York with an engin-
Ger OF the name of Cooper. for the pur- y
pose of building the Keokuk water
power plant. Stockholders Of the
N;irth American ca were recently
notified that it will own this water
power plant when it is completed.
Current to Cost More.
Under the gas company's contract
with the Transmission Co. 1t viii have
to pay .65 cents per kilowatt hour for
current at its switchboard in st. Louis,
provided 1t uses so per cent of its
maximum capacity. continuously and
70 per cent of it between D. m. and
6 a. M The conditions of the contract
are such that the actual cost of cleo
tricfty at the switchboard will be
about 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
Union electric has similar contract
with the Transmission Co.
10 get these rates the gas COM
pany Is required to take not less
than s9s,000 worth of current each
year. while Union Electric will have
70 take considerably more than
$780, 900.
The company will also have to
maintain its plant in St Louis for
g ncrgency purposes and keep up
steam so that in the event OF break.
dow Ct the water power plant or in
Jury to Its transmission wires, it viii
Eave reserve to fall back upon.
Union Electric is now generating
electricity at the switchboard OF the
Inai' ? ant at the foot of Ashley
street al GA cents a kilowatt hour,
while i is making electricity at the
old riar-: Of the Laclede Power Co.
at y cent kilowatt hour.
The conditions OF the contracts
which the gas and electric companies
have made. according to experts who
have examined them, will make the
current at the switchboard cost con-
siderably more than it does now.
This may have the effect of increas-
ing the fcost OF lectr.city to con-
sumerc
TO Escape Regulation.
The high price the transmission
company will get for current will
cause large part OF the earnings
Of local electric company to be trans
ferred from Missouri to Iowa. but in
the end the North American stock.
holders, who own the electric com
pany, will get it.
This diversion of earnings will be
valuable to the electric company in
the event of a public service commits
sion undertakes to regulate rates.
BY showing that the cost Of electricity
Is so high and. that interest on bonds
--A ~ AuShtS Ou StoCh dLlOuulS 10 SU
much more, the company might be ,
able to show that reduction in rates
would amount to confiscatIon of its
The contract of the Transmission
Co. provides that the Laclede Gas Co.
and Union Electric will not be bound
by their contracts unless water power
current is supplied by 1914.
Work is to be begun on the plant
by 1910 and the promoters of the
scheme hope to be distributing here
electricity generated by water power
by 1912. dam will be thrown across
the Mississippi river at Keokuk and
the water from the rapids will be
used to generate the current.
A large plant with i. capacity to .
supply all the large Iowa and Illinois
towns within easy access to Keokuk
Is to be built.