1920 MANITOBA POWER COMPANY (MPC) was formed as a subsidiary of the Winnipeg Electric Railway Company (WERCo.) to take over the rights and properties of the Winnipeg River Railway Company and the Winnipeg River Power Company for the purpose of completing and operating Great Falls Generating Station.

TOWN OF PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, the first applicant for power network service under the 1919 Electrical Power Transmission Act, was connected to MPC's electrical system on August 21 via a 66-kV, 96-km-long steel tower transmission line — from Scotland Avenue Substation in Winnipeg.

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1921 RURAL ELECTRIFICATION began to materialize when the towns of Carman, Minnedosa, Morden, Roland, and Virden received electrical service from MPC's growing electrical system. Over the next seven years, about 28 more towns and villages would also be connected. However, with the 1929 financial crash and subsequent depression, followed by the outbreak of World War II, rural electrification plans were put on hold.

CANADA GAS & ELECTRIC CORPORATION OF BRANDON was formed with the consolidation of the Brandon Electric Light Company Ltd. and the Brandon Gas & Power Company Limited (the latter established by Cyrus Eaton of the Abott-Eaton Company, year unknown). Ten years later, the company was taken over by MPC.

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1923 GREAT FALLS GENERATING STATION, built by WERCo., was officially opened on January 4 by Sir James Aikens, Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. Located on the Winnipeg River about 128 km to the northeast of Winnipeg, the generating station pioneered a number of new design features that have since become common practice in power plant development. Great Falls went into service initially with units one and two in operation. By 1928, all six units had been installed bringing the total capacity to 132 MW. Today, Great Falls is Manitoba Hydro's headquarters for all four of its Winnipeg River generating stations.

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1924 THE AMY STREET STEAM PLANT, owned by the City of Winnipeg Hydro Electric System (City Hydro), went into production with units one and two. Its total capacity was 10 MW. Other units were added in 1953 and 1954, which brought the total capacity to 50 MW. The Amy Street Steam Plant was closed on June 2, 1990, after providing 66 years of electricity and steam heat to buildings in downtown Winnipeg.

NAME OF WINNIPEG ELECTRIC RAILWAY COMPANY (WERCo.), formerly the Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company, was changed to Winnipeg Electric Company (WECo.) on April 5 by an amendment to the Act of the Corporation.

NORTHWESTERN POWER COMPANY was created for the purpose of constructing Seven Sisters Generating Station. In 1927, the company merged with WECo.

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1931 SEVEN SISTERS GENERATING STATION, built by WECo. on the Winnipeg River about 101 km to the northeast of Winnipeg, began operating on May 9. The largest generating station on the Winnipeg River, it also operated with the highest head (a waterfall of 18.6 m) compared to the other Winnipeg River generating stations. In 1948, the capacity of the first three units was increased from 45 MW to 75 MW. This was the result of channel excavation, which raised the forebay by 2.4 m and lowered the tailrace by 1.5 m. Three more units were installed by 1952, bringing Seven Sisters' total capacity to 150 MW.

SEVEN SISTERS AGREEMENT was signed by the provincial government and WECo. Under the terms of the agreement, WECo. agreed to supply electricity to MPC. Since its inception in 1919, MPC had been purchasing power from City Hydro.

SLAVE FALLS GENERATING STATION, built by City Hydro on the Winnipeg River, went on line September 1 with units one and two in production. Its total capacity was 17 MW. More units were added in 1937, 1938, 1946, 1947 and 1948. When completed in 1948, the generating station had a total of eight units, which increased its capacity to 67.4 MW.

MPC PURCHASED THE CANADA GAS & Electric Corporation of Brandon.

MANITOBA POWER COMMISSION ACT (MPC Act) was passed by the provincial government to replace the 1919 Electrical Power Transmission Act. The policy of MPC since its inception in 1919 was to sell power to rural municipalities which, in turn, retailed the power to the individual customer. As a result, there was no overall coordination of the system, and a considerable diversity of rates and policies existed. When the Depression occurred, local people began to feel its effects and had trouble paying their electricity bills. Not able to collect from their customers, municipalities in turn had trouble making their payments to MPC.

This situation called for a complete reassessment of the utility's policies. Subsequently, the MPC Act was passed by the provincial government to replace the 1919 Act. The new Act provided essentially for the reorganization of MPC and the appointment of a Board consisting of three members. The three were Mr. D. L. McLean, who served as Chairman, Mr. Herbert Cottingham and Mr. John W. Sanger. McLean resigned after serving only one year.

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1933 MUNICIPAL CONTRACTS WERE CANCELLED as a result of the MPC Act. Instead of supplying power to municipalities which then supplied their respective communities, new contracts were drawn up providing municipalities with electricity for public service only. From that point on, MPC began dealing directly with individual customers without the municipal middle man.

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1936 THE WECo. PLAN OF CONSOLIDATION and Readjustment was approved. In May 1935, a plan to reorganize the properties and operations of WECo. and its associated companies was proposed. The associated companies included the Northwestern Power Company, MPC, Suburban Rapid Transit Company, and Winnipeg Selkirk & Lake Winnipeg Railway Company. In general the plan provided for the consolidation of WECo., MPC, and Northwestern Power Company into one company, and for the Winnipeg Selkirk & Lake Winnipeg Railway Company and Suburban Rapid Transit Company to operate as wholly owned subsidiaries. A third subsidiary was created to manage WECo.'s gas operations. The plan was adopted in 1936.

FIRST EXPORT OF POWER TO THE U.S. from Manitoba occurred when the Dominion Government issued MPC a licence to export a limited amount of power to Interstate Power Company, which served North Dakota and Minnesota. The MPC interconnecting transmission line extended 0.8 km from Gretna to the international boundary.

MPC FIGHTS FOR SURVIVAL. For a while during the early twenties, it seemed as if nothing could possibly stop the spread of a publicly owned transmission and distribution system throughout Manitoba. The Manitoba Power Commission (MPC) was doing its best to carry out its mandated task of providing electrical service to rural Manitoba from its transmission line network. Until this time, local residents had been receiving power from small, locally owned utilities.

The City of Portage la Prairie was the first rural area in Manitoba to sign a contract to receive electrical service from MPC. The signing officially launched rural electrification, and construction began on a 66-kV transmission line between Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie. The line was completed on August 17, 1920.

In 1921, a 33-kV branch line running southwards to Morden was completed, providing electrical service for the districts of Carman, Morden, and Roland. The future looked bright and MPC continued to expand to the main towns and villages in the province. The utility ultimately planned to serve every hamlet with a population of 20 or more. However, the forces of nature and finance would overpower MPC's best laid plans.

In July 1921, not even a full year after it was completed, extremely high winds brought down four kilometres of the Portage transmission line. Then in June 1922, less than one year later, the Portage line was again ravaged by a cyclone which left several kilometres of twisted towers and wrecked buildings in its wake. At the time of the cyclone, many MPC construction camps were scattered across the Manitoban prairie. MPC employees camped in tents located in fields and farmyards near the transmission lines they were building. These tent camps were, of course, destroyed by the cyclones. One story told of a lineman who was thrown out of his camp bed and in through the window of a nearby house.

In 1923, a general depression and crop failure reduced the number of areas asking for electrical service. This, combined with the fact that revenues from towns already connected to the electrical system were not as great as originally anticipated, threatened the future of MPC.

Responding to this threat, MPC began an electricity load building program, which included a strong promotional thrust aimed at demonstrating the advantages of electricity to farmers. Progress was slow but sure. Then, in 1929, the massive financial disaster of the stock market crash occurred as well as the beginning of the depression years. The utility paused to reassess its policies. In 1931, the 1919 Electrical Power Transmission Act was repealed and replaced by the Manitoba Power Commission Act (MPC Act). The MPC Act established a board of three, including Mr. D. L. McLean, Chairman, who was joined by Mr. H. Cottingham and Mr. J. W. Sanger. These gentlemen were businessmen from privately owned industries unrelated to the electrical industry.

Cottingham and Sanger set about reorganizing MPC. Two of their most important new policies were that it would provide electricity to municipalities for public services only, such as for street lighting and public buildings, and that MPC would sell directly to individual customers, instead of selling bulk to municipalities for distribution to customers. As part of the reorganization, MPC centralized the billing system in its Winnipeg office to reduce the cost of operations and to prevent inconsistencies in the interpretation of the rate schedule. In another move to get closer to its customers, MPC established a Business Department under Mr. G. A. Wrighton. The Business Department's task was to sell electric appliances and generally help to build the electricity load. This helped to stabilize MPC's financial position.

Another move that helped improve MPC's financial position was a policy developed in 1934 that established guidelines for transmission line extensions. These guidelines required that there be a sufficient number of customers to ensure enough revenue to meet all the costs before the line extension was initiated.

By 1937, MPC's financial picture was improving. When war broke out in 1939, the only new line extensions were for military bases. However, the combination of town electrification and the outbreak of World War II set the stage for one of the most exciting periods in Manitoba's history — Farm Electrification.

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