Otter Tail Power Company was incorporated in 1907, but began serving its first customer in 1909. This went largely unnoticed by area homeowners. During the company's early days, the typical upper Midwestern family's home was largely devoid of electric appliances. In fact, outside of the larger cities, most homes were not even wired for electric service. That was all quickly to change as electric reliability improved and prices tumbled.

Early 20th Century electric utility consumers were primarily commercial and industrial concerns. Streetcars, mining, lumbering, milling and other processing activities, and municipal pumping were utilities' main customers. Most uses of electricity were accomplished by direct-drive motors.

Local electric distribution companies were owned either by municipalities or private entrepreneurs and operated by a local mechanic. Because power plants were often close to the end-user, utilities generated direct current (DC) power - in keeping with Edison's preference over alternating current, which was taking hold in large eastern metropolitan areas.

In communities not powered by small hydro electric stations, a coal-fired steam plant provided electricity for limited hours each day. When the operator left for the day, he simply shut the system down and customers had to make do with back-up fuels.

The family home before we provided residential service

Homes in those days were still primarily lighted by kerosene lamps or, in a few communities, by manufactured gas, known then as "coal gas". While Edison's (and competitors') incandescent light bulbs were becoming more common on the East and West coasts, they would not take hold in Otter Tail's service area for a few years. Electric arc lights in commercial and industrial buildings and some limited street lighting were utilities' only lighting applications.

Electric cooking was a ways off too. Homeowners relied on wood-burning ovens or manufactured gas, where it was available. Homes were heated with coal- or wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, which did not require electric fans to circulate heat. 

In most communities, the coal yard doubled in summer months as the ice depot. Ice slabs cut from local rivers and lakes in winter were stored in sawdust on-site during the warm months. Wagons delivered ice to homeowners who crammed their wooden ice boxes with dairy products and meat. With limited refrigeration, fruits and vegetables were canned for later use; meats were salted, dried and smoked for preservation.

Lighting, cooking, heating, refrigeration and cleaning were all labor-intensive jobs around the house. Homeowners were ready for a change - one that offered versatility and an escape from the tediousness and drudgery of daily household chores.

Reliability - the key to growth

Otter Tail fit the growth pattern common to most turn-of-the-century utilities. Once organized, the company set about buying small, privately owned electric distribution properties - most consisted of just a cluster of a few adjacent towns. The new towns were supplied through low-voltage transmission lines by the company's hydroelectric stations on the Otter Tail River. When the water resource was not available, or during times of repair or maintenance, the company relied on the small steam plants to keep its customers in service. Uninterrupted service, the essence of reliability, was born.

Reliability was the company's most important marketing tool - helped along by the myriad of electric appliances and gadgets that were being developed all the time. Otter Tail's management understood that by offering more reliable service, customer count (and sales!) would grow. With the growing sales, the fixed costs of generation and transmission assets could be spread among more kilowatt hours and the price per unit of power came down even more.

Once Otter Tail purchased a town electric system, the company immediately converted it to alternating current (AC). This allowed the company to expand its service into distant residences and even to farmsteads allowing for multiple voltages from the same plant without the line-loss associated with direct current. It also made it possible to offer electrical service for more applications that required motors.

Laundry co-ops

Coincidental to Otter Tail's area growth was the growth in its customer diversity - primarily through the annual addition of hundreds of residential accounts. Electricity was now affordable - not to mention more convenient than the fossil fuels homeowners relied on. Once a home was wired for electrical service, its most popular attraction became electrical lighting. Because there were very few local electric contractors at the time, Otter Tail offered a complete wiring service -- $35-$95 per customer.

Not only was electrical lighting cost-competitive, it was cleaner, and a lot safer and healthier than kerosene. No one had to worry about refilling the kerosene tank. Lighting was immediately at one's fingertips. An early benefit was no more candles on Christmas trees! Other home appliances were constantly coming along too.

By design or coincidence, our service to homes was accompanied by rapid fire development of appliances of convenience. The everyday task of washing was suddenly a matter of flipping a switch or turning a knob.  

Just a year before Otter Tail Power Company came to be, a Ford Motor Company engineer invented the electric washing machine. It worked on the same principle as modern washing machines - push soapy water through clothes fabric using a motor-driven agitator. Most early models worked fairly well --- but, they were still a luxury for the average homeowners in Otter Tail's service area. To reduce the expense, it was common for several neighbors to purchase a single washing machine and simply wheel it between homes as needed - laundry co-ops, so to speak.

New small appliances came onto the market each year. The steam iron, which used to be heated on a wood stove, was now wired to the home's circuitry. Other small appliances such as blenders, mixers, hot plates, coffee makers and so on lined up on home kitchen shelves and made the family's day more enjoyable.     

Other appliances began to take hold in the home as well. The electric range and dishwasher were invented in 1908. The toaster came along in 1909, and the electric refrigerator in 1914. The clothes iron was introduced in 1922 and the electric food disposer in 1929.

Otter Tail management marketed each new device through displays in its local offices and by a travelling "Electrical Exposition" display. Company employees encouraged homeowners to use more electricity by being among the first in town to try out a new appliance. 

In addition, appliances became available through local merchants. Many general stores, electrician shops and automobile dealers stocked full appliance lines. Catalog orders through Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward enhanced appliance sales too. Customers who, just two decades earlier, lived in homes not wired for power, were quickly taking on all the looks of modern-day living.

As Otter Tail's load grew, the company's Otter Tail River hydroelectric plants could no longer reliably serve its customer base. So, by the end of the 1920s, Otter Tail had added coal-fired steam plants at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and Wahpeton and Washburn in North Dakota. The Washburn plant was the first large scale use of lignite for the production of electricity.

Growth continues

Following 20 years of heady growth, the Great Depression brought Otter Tail's expansion to a near standstill. The company took on a "make do and get through" attitude. The company added few towns, and sales, like the economy, stagnated.

Although sometimes strapped to put food on the table, residential consumers continued to add newly available electric appliances. Blenders, electric roasters, waffle irons, coffee makers, hot plates and radios became requisites in the modern home. The trend to add appliances of convenience continued through the World War II years as Otter Tail's sales rebounded from the flat years of the 1930s.

With World War II behind them, homecoming GIs across the country demanded new housing for their growing families. Otter Tail's residential customer base grew by 2.5 percent annually between 1947 and 1955. During that same period, individual home energy use also gradually increased, reflecting the continued electrification of the home, including substantial gains in electric heating - especially in communities not served by natural gas.

However, electrical consumption by the average Otter Tail residential customer is now six times that of 1947. The huge consumption growth reflects the addition of dozens of electric and electronic devices available to the American family. In 1977, the typical residential customer had 15 appliances; however, only three of those appliances were electronic. 

With the advent of the vacuum tube, the 1940's began the age of  electronics.  In addition to "electric" appliances that consumed power to do their work, customers were now being introduced to "electronic" appliances such as the radio and soon the television which paved the way for the computer.

According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, today the typical American home has 24 electronic appliances. In 1970, the average American home had one television; that has grown to 2.4 televisions today - most of which consume much more energy than those old black and white models.

The growth in residential energy usage has been most dramatic for Otter Tail Power Company through central air conditioners. Otter Tail customers are no different than their counterparts across the country. In 1975, only about one-third of American homes had central air conditioning. By 2007, central air condition saturation had grown to two-thirds of all homes. Nearly 80 percent of the remaining homes had at least one window air conditioner.

The next big step in appliances came with the advent of PONG. This rudimentary ping pong game set the stage for all of those game stations and platforms that the younger generations can't seem to live without.  Not long after the video game explosion, came the next wave of electronics that had a more personal focus.  Beginning with the Walkman, it has now become second nature for people to carry their cell phone and their Ipod with them where ever they go.  And in order to fit in, all of this needs to be connected wirelessly using Blue Tooth technology.   

The growth in air conditioning load has been a main driver in Otter Tail's changing annual load profile. Since its early years, the company has been "winter peaking" - meaning its customers' peak electrical demand occurred on a winter day. Normally, that day was one the old timers called a "30 by 30" - 30 below zero with a 30 mile-per-hour wind. The growth in central air conditioning has helped turn the load profile around to where the company will soon be "summer peaking." (Who knows what the old-timers would call that!)

Otter Tail has been one of the nation's most aggressive utilities in promoting the all-electric home. The company offers the homeowner a wide range of heating options including: radiant, thermal storage, heat pumps, plenum heaters and electric boilers. This array of choices gives customers an alternative to the volatile world of heating with fossil fuels.

Likewise, the company offers homeowners a way of saving on their energy bill through its Residential Demand Control program. Here, a homeowner who is willing to allow the company to shut down certain appliances during peak usage hours can save money through an attractive special rate. The program starts with the homeowner selecting the appliances to be shut down. During peak times, the company sends a signal to the home shutting the appliances down and a follow-up signal is sent once the peak has passed bringing the appliances back on-line. The typical residential customer saves about $300 per year. This valuable program allows the company to avoid buying costly peak-time power.

Our commitment continues

Residential and small commercial customers are at the heart of Otter Tail's communities, and they are at the core of our responsibility as an electric supplier. We are committed to continue the safe, reliable and affordable electric service we set about offering in one hundred years ago and we look forward to another century of service.

Appliances - and their dates of invention

1908 - Range and dishwasher
1909 - Refrigerator
1921 - Automatic steam iron
1922 - Commercial/industrial air conditioner
1927 - Waste disposer
1929 - Room air conditioner for homes
1930 - Clothes dryer
1938 - First commercial television
1949 - Vertical axis clothes washer
1951 - Color television
1952 - Automatic ice maker
1955 - Microwave oven
1958 - Frost-free freezer, push-button wash machine controls, automatic dryer
1959 - Dual level ranges and ovens
1962 - Room air conditioner with thermostat control
1963 - Self-cleaning oven
1967 - Counter-top microwave ovens
1968 - Glass-topped cooking surfaces
1977 - Solid-state, touch controlled washer
1978 - Microcomputers established in home appliances
1983 - Ice cream makers introduced on refrigerator/freezers
1984 - Flash-freeze freezers
1985 - Automatic defrost controlled by microcomputer
1990 and beyond - The electronic explosion! 

Until you actually make the list of your own, it's difficult to understand how tied to electricity we have become and how critical it is that Otter Tail Power Company keep the electrons flowing, 60 times a second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.