From Thomas Edison to Today

Thomas Edison revolutionized the world with his cutting-edge inventions. On the evening of October 21, 1879, Edison created what no one else had before him—a practical electric light bulb. For electric lighting to become a commercial reality, Edison knew that he had to find a way to generate and transmit the electricity required to power his bulb. By the end of 1880, Edison formed the Edison Electric Illuminating Company to build electric generating plants in New York City.

The first central power plant—Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan—began generating electricity on September 4, 1882. Next, Edison created a company to build and sell electric power to towns and cities throughout the United States. Our modern electric power industry began to take form.

In the 1890s, electric utilities began to develop in urban areas because of economies of scale. By 1907, New York and Wisconsin began to regulate these utilities. Regulation spread to two-thirds of the states by 1920. And by the 1920s, most urban areas were electrified.

We’ve come a long way since the days of Thomas Edison. The industry that once brought “smokeless light” to American cities in the late 1800s now supplies the power for more than 176 million personal computers and a national network of 208 million cellular phones, contributing to both industrial productivity and consumer comforts that enhance our standard of living.¹

As Edison himself said, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." One can only imagine what our future holds.

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¹The Brattle Group, Why Are Electricity Prices Increasing? An Industry-Wide Perspective. Prepared for the Edison Foundation, June 2006, page 1.