Northern States Power Company

Northern States Power Company (: NSP) was a publicly traded S&P 500 electric and natural gas utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that is now a subsidiary of Xcel Energy (: XEL).

In 1909 H.M. Byllesby (engineering apprentice to Thomas Edison who helped build Manhattan’s Pearl Street Electrical Station in 1881 and employee of George Westinghouse from 1885-1891) forms the Washington County Light & Power Company, a subsidiary of his utilities conglomerate, Consumers Power Company. Byllesby then bought Stillwater Gas & Electric less than two months after forming Washington County P & L. From 1912 through 1915, Byllesby links power lines around Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Chaska, Shakopee and builds business operations in Faribault, Mankato, Northfield, Coon Rapids, Rockford, Delano, Watertown, Waconia, Chaska, Shakopee, and Crookston growing his customer base from several thousand to 48,000.

Northern States Power Company (NSP) was a publicly traded utility, paying a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1910.

It was originally called the Consumers Power Company — one of several divisions within H. M. Byllesby's vast public utility empire — but changed its name to NSP in 1916 (possibly to avoid confusion with an identically named company in Michigan) 42 smaller companies over the next seven years.

While the bulk of NSP's territory grew across central and southern Minnesota (starting from the Twin Cities), it acquired territory in North Dakota (centering on Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot) and grew southwest into South Dakota (centering on Sioux Falls). Its territory extended east into Wisconsin as well, but due to state regulations requiring local ownership of all utilities, these operations were under a separate subsidiary: Northern States Power-Wisconsin. This latter subsidiary extended east into northern neighboring Upper Peninsula of Michigan, bounded between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior around 1995.

In 1952, Northern States Power brings the Black Dog Coal-fired power plant online and in 1974 the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant begins operating with a total capacity of 1,100 Meg-watts, enough to power 1 million homes.

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