Avista Utilities' vista is the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West. The utility, a subsidiary of integrated production, transmission, and distribution powerhouse Avista Corporation, provides regulated electricity and natural gas services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Avista Utilities provides power and gas services to about 673,000 customers (357,000 electric, and 316,000 gas). It serves power customers with a mix of hydro, natural gas, coal, and biomass generation (with a total capacity of 1,776 MW in 2009), and serves gas customers through purchased wholesale gas supply. The company sells excess electricity to wholesale customers.

Pennsylvania-American Water Company distributes water and provides wastewater services to a population of more than 2 million people in more than 370 communities across Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania-American Water also operates some 35 water treatment plants, seven wastewater facilities, and 9,900 miles of pipeline. The company's service territory covers some 35 Pennsylvania counties. Pennsylvania-American Water, the largest regulated water and wastewater service provider in Pennsylvania, is a subsidiary of the New Jersey-based American Water.

Southern Company isn't just whistling Dixie. The holding company is one of the largest electricity distributors in the US. It operates regulated utilities Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power, which combined have a generating capacity of more than 42,900 MW and serve more than 4.4 million electricity customers in the southeastern US. The good ol' power company also has energy marketing operations, and it provides energy consulting and management services for businesses and institutions. Through its Southern LINC Wireless unit, it provides wireless communications services in its US utility territory; its Southern Telecom unit offers wholesale fiber-optic services.

New Braunfels Utilities is its namesake city's most powerful entity. The utility provides electric, water, and sewage services to New Braunfels, Texas, and nearby communities. Its electric system serves more than 28,200 customers via 700 miles of overhead and underground distribution lines. New Braunfels Utilities' water and sewer systems serve more than 21,600 water and almost 20,000 wastewater customers. The water system operates six groundwater wells over the Edwards Aquifer, as well as an 8 million gallon per day surface water plant on the Guadalupe River. New Braunfels Utilities' three wastewater treatment plants have a total daily capacity of 8.4 million gallons.

The dryly named electric utility Electric Power Development Co. has a much more fun nickname -- J-POWER. With a generating capacity of 16,380 MW, the company supplies power used all over Japan. It has 67 hydroelectric plants, as well as some thermal and geothermal plants, and owns a transmission network that covers 2,400 km. J-POWER acts as a wholesale electric utility, selling to other electric power companies. Established by the Japanese government in 1952, J-POWER went through the privatization process, finally achieving full privatization and trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2004. The company is also sometimes referred to as EPDC.

Xcel Energy has accelerated its energy engine into utility markets across the US. The utility holding company distributes electricity to 3.4 million customers and natural gas to 1.9 million in eight states; Colorado and Minnesota account for the majority of its customers. Its regulated utilities -- Northern States Power, Public Service Company of Colorado, and Southwestern Public Service -- have more than 20,500 MW of primarily fossil-fueled generating capacity. Xcel also has 35,200 miles of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines. Pushing green energy sources, in 2008 Xcel announced that it would develop solar-generated power plants in Colorado as part of its green energy initiative.

Steril-Aire lets you breathe easy. The company's products use ultraviolet "C" wavelength (UVC) energy to destroy molds and infectious diseases in HVAC systems. Steril-Aire makes and markets a wide range of UVC devices and accessories for commercial, residential, school, food processing, health care, and industrial applications. The company has an extensive portfolio of patents covering many aspects of UVC germicidal technology. Some products are designed for outdoor installation, and are water resistant. All others are designed for 99% relative humidity and function properly under those conditions.

Community Energy is working to create greener communities in the northeastern and midwestern US. Through supply agreements with alternative energy generation companies and sales agreements with electricity distribution utilities, Community Energy, a unit of industry leader IDERBROLA RENEWABLES, offers green energy solutions to major businesses and governments as well as to more than 110,000 residential and small-business customers. The company is also involved in the development of wind farms and supplies power directly to end-users. Community Energy, which operates under the NewWind Energy brand, purchases power primarily from wind-powered generation facilities; it also markets solar and hydroelectric energy.

New York Independent System Operator (New York ISO). The company, which replaced the New York Power Pool, manages and monitors wholesale activities on the state's transmission grid, which consists of some 11,000 miles of high-voltage lines. The New York ISO is charged with providing fair access to the state's competitive wholesale power market (37,400 MW of generating capacity), while ensuring the reliable, efficient, and safe delivery of power to New York's more than 19 million residents. The not-for-profit company is governed by a 10-person board of directors.

Ontario Power Generation produces most of the electricity supply for the Canadian province of Ontario. The company, owned by the province, operates fossil-fueled, nuclear, hydroelectric and wind power plants that give it a generating capacity of almost 22,000 MW. Ontario Power sells wholesale power to utilities (including Hydro One) and businesses in Ontario; it also markets electricity in interconnected Canadian and US markets. It operates 65 hydroelectric, five thermal (fossil fuel), three nuclear, and two wind-power generating stations. In addition, Ontario Power operates co-owned and leased facilities, including two gas-fired combined cycle stations and two nuclear stations.

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