The Power Trust Tries to Woo Tacoma
A regional power company offers the city cheaper rates, fueling the municipal argument for public utility ownership.
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It is up to the city of Tacoma to go after business in the light and power market. The Seattle-Tacoma Power company says if the city will increase its load factor to 25 per cent, a price of 1-cent per kilowatt will be made instead of the present rate of 1 1/2 cents. In the last 11 months, the city paid for power $110,000 at the 1 1/2 cent rate; at the 1-cent rate, this bill would have been cut to only $40,000 for the same amount of current. While it is to the interest of both the company and the city to boost the load factor, the offer is a complete vindication of those who have been demanding that the city secure its own hydraulic plant. With a city plant capable of generating 20,000 horsepower, every churn, washing machine, flatiron, and cookstove in Tacoma could be coupled up to operate by electricity, making gas a thing of the past.
“The power trust has rendered Tacoma a great favor by showing the possibilities in the power business. Tacoma ought to learn the lesson.”
Tacoma eventually followed the advice of this editorial, creating Tacoma Power, which remains one of the few municipal utilities in the U.S. that keeps residential rates significantly lower than the national average. The 1909 debate over 'load factor'—the efficiency of constant energy use—remains central to modern grid management as the city transitions to renewable energy and EV infrastructure.
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