Birthdays
On November 11, 1859, one of our industry's greatest founders, Sam Insull, was born in London, England. Starting out as Thomas Edison's private secretary, Insull literally created our system of regulated monopolies and cost-of-service regulation.
It was June 7, 1898. In the last six years, he had built up Chicago Edison Company as its president. Now also president of the National Electric Light Association (predecessor to today's Edison Electric Institute), at age thirty-nine, he rose that morning to deliver the welcoming address of the NELA annual convention.
In six historic sentences, Insull outlined our industry:
"While it is not supposed to be popular to speak of exclusive franchises, it should be recognized that the best service at the lowest possible price can only be obtained, certainly in connection with the industry with which we are identified, by exclusive control of a given territory being placed in the hands of one undertaking."
So, first, Insull proposed our system of regulated monopolies.
"In most European countries public-service operations enjoy exclusive franchises, under proper control, and are able to obtain capital for their undertakings at the lowest commercial rates, thus materially affecting the cost of their product...