Through its regulated utility subsidiaries, Aquarion distributes water to more than 180,000 homes and businesses (or about 580,000 people) in some 39 communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. It is one of the 10 largest investor-owned utilities in the US. The company's Aquarion Services unit provides contract management of municipal water and wastewater systems, along with engineering and management consulting services and consumer water line protection plans. In 2007 UK-based Kelda Group sold control of Aquarion to Australia's Macquarie Bank for $860 million.

The city-owned utility also produces and distributes steam to 250 customers along 14 miles of steam line. Lansing Board of Water and Light can chill out too. Its chilled water system delivers up to 10,000 tons of chilled water capacity to 14 customers to cool the interior of buildings in the downtown area. Lansing Board of Water and Light is the largest municipally owned utility in the state. It is also a major employer in the Lansing area.Letting off a little steam is a good thing for Lansing Board of Water and Light, which provides electricity to 96,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers and water to about 55,000 customers in Lansing, Michigan

The Electric Power Board of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County is a mouthful. Its operating name, Nashville Electric Service (NES), sounds much better. And talking of sound, the legendary "Nashville Sound" would be hard to hear without the resources of this power distributor, which serves more than 357,000 customers in central Tennessee. NES is one of the largest government-owned utilities in the US, and operates more than 90,500 distribution transformers and about 230 substations. The company is required to purchase all its power from another government-owned operator, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Emera is an emerging force in a new energy era. Subsidiary Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) generates, transmits, and distributes more than 97% of the electricity in Nova Scotia, where it serves 486,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Most of NSPI's more than 2,290 MW generating capacity is from fossil fuel plants. Emera has electric utility operations into the US through its Maine-based Bangor Hydro-Electric, which serves about 117,000 customers. It markets wholesale energy and provides asset management services. Emera owns Brunswick Pipeline (which ships LNGs), and has a minority stake in Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (natural gas). It also has minority stakes in utilities in the Caribbean.

American Transmission Company is an entrepreneur in the US power grid business. Connecting electricity producers to distributors, American Transmission owns, operates, monitors, and maintains 9,400 miles of high-voltage electric transmission lines and 510 substations in portions of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. American Transmission is one of the first for-profit transmission companies, formed when the US market deregulated in the early 2000s. The company operates the former transmission assets of some of its shareholders. About 30 utilities, municipalities, municipal electric companies, and electric cooperatives in its service area have an ownership stake in American Transmission.

Global Environmental Energy Corporation wants to improve China and other countries by turning their unwanted waste into energy. It also searches for oil and gas and has interests in clean coal technology. The company's alternative power generation technology uses waste from industrial, municipal, and agricultural facilities to produce electricity for its clients. Subsidiary Biosphere Development Corp has sold nine Biosphere Process Systems in China and one in Lebanon. Subsidiary Sahara Petroleum Exploration explores for oil in North Africa but has been inactive since 2007.

A company so nice they named it twice is doubling its efforts to deliver power. NRG Energy, a leading power producer with a generating capacity of about 24,500 MW (including 345 MW from renewable energy), is moving onward and upward. The vast majority of NRG's power plants are in North America, but it also has one in Australia and one in Germany. The company's global portfolio includes about 190 generation units at 47 power plants. It also markets natural gas, oil, and other commodities, and invests in district heating and cooling and alternative energy projects. Its retail unit, Reliant Energy, distributes power to more than 1.6 million residential, business, commercial, and industrial customers in Texas.

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative keeps the power flowing to the residences and businesses of more than 200,360 member-owners in five counties along the central Florida Gulf Coast. The power distribution utility, which was originally set up in 1941, receives wholesale generation and transmission services from the Seminole Electric Cooperative. Withlacoochee River Electric, a non-profit organization, returns any funds remaining at the end of each year to its membership. The cooperative has returned more than $190 million to its member-owners.

Bangor Hydro-Electric (BHE) has dropped its hydro, but the company still has plenty of electricity. As part of the restructuring of the electric utility industry in the state of Maine, BHE has shed its generating facilities, including its hydroelectric projects, to focus on distribution and transmission. The regulated utility serves 117,000 customers in six counties in southeastern Maine. The company is also a member of the New England Power Pool. Bangor Hydro-Electric is a subsidiary of Canada's Emera, the parent company of electric utility Nova Scotia Power.

TestAmerica Laboratories (formerly Severn Trent Laboratories) can tell you. It operates about 40 environmental testing laboratories and more than 30 service centers in the US. TestAmerica provides chemical, physical, and biological testing of air, drinking water, tissue, and solid waste. The company has developed technologies to test air for fire retardants, explosives, radiation, and source emissions. Its affiliates include environmental and geotechnical drilling firm TestAmerica Drilling, water sampling equipment and remediation pumping system provider QED Environmental Systems, and air quality analyst EMLab P&K).

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