Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division (MLGW) helps lighten up the Memphis blues. The municipally owned utility provides electricity, water, and natural gas services for all of Shelby County, Tennessee, including the city of Memphis. It serves primarily residential and commercial customers. MLGW buys electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and distributes it to more than 420,000 customers. The company purchases natural gas on the spot market, transmits it through open access pipelines, and delivers it to about 320,000 customers. Through its artesian water system, MLGW supplies water to more than 257,000 customers.

Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency,the power provider supplies wholesale electricity to its 18 member municipal distribution utilities, which in turn distribute power to more than 109,000 retail customers. The agency's main power source is the 900 MW Sherco 3-power plant generating unit near Becker, Minnesota. Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency owns 41% of the low-sulfur Western coal fueled plant in partnership Northern States Power Company, the unit's operator. It also relies on a range of intermediate and peaking units owned by the agency's members.

Falck Group makes its money through windy days, dead plants, and companies looking for a loan. The company maintains bioenergy and wind energy operations through publicly traded subsidiary Actelios. It also offers financial services to partners and suppliers through subsidiary Riesfactoring. Though it operates primarily in Italy, Falck's wind energy business is active in France, Spain, and the UK as well. The company was founded in 1906 by Giorgio Enrico Falck, a third-generation ironworker.

Enel S.p.A. owns and operates more than 70 renewable energy plants in 20 states and two Canadian provinces. Enel North America's plants have a capacity to generate 748.5 MW of power (406 MW of wind power, 314 MW of hydropower, 21 MW of biomass power and 7.5 MW of geothermal power). Its wind farms use Vestas and GE Energy turbines; its largest project, the Smoky Hill Wind Farm in Kansas, has 155 wind turbines that alone generate 250 MW of power (enough to power 85,000 homes for a year). Enel North America's only biomass plant is located in Quebec, where it offsets 1 million tons of carbon dioxide by burning wood waste each year.

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.

Pensacola power users patronize Gulf Power. The regulated utility, a subsidiary of Southern Company, transmits and distributes electricity to more than 428,150 customers in northwestern Florida. Gulf Power generates about 2,660 MW of capacity from its fossil-fueled power plants, and it operates 1,600 miles of transmission lines and about 7,650 miles of distribution lines in its service territory. The utility, which serves 10 counties and more than 70 towns and cities, also provides wholesale electricity to two distributors in Florida, and it offers conservation, outdoor lighting, surge protection, and other energy-related products and services.

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, which operates as BC Hydro, distributes electricity to the 1.8 million residential and business customers. The province-owned utility owns more than 46,500 miles of transmission and distribution lines, and it operates hydroelectric and fossil-fueled power plants about 11,350 MW of generating capacity. Subsidiary Powerex markets and trades energy throughout North America. To increase efficiencies in green power production, in 2010 BC Hydro consolidated its transmission operations with those of the province-owned British Columbia Transmission. A Crown corporation owned by British Columbia, BC Hydro is regulated by British Columbia Utilities Commission.

WPPI Energy (formerly Wisconsin Public Power) generates, purchases, and supplies wholesale electricity to 51 municipal distribution utilities, which in turn serve more than 192,000 homes and businesses in Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Iowa. Founded as a political subdivision of the State of Wisconsin, the utility was formed by its member-owners (the municipalities) in 1980. WPPI Energy has interests in power plants that give it a capacity of more than 1,120 MW. It also engages in wholesale energy transactions with other regional utilities and energy marketers and is a major advocate of green energy power resources.

NorthWestern, once a holding company for several energy-related businesses, is now blowing in one direction only -- providing power and gas through regulated utilites. Through its NorthWestern Energy subsidiary, the company provides electricity and natural gas to about 661,000 customers in Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In Montana it delivers electricity to approximately 335,000 customers in 187 communities and surrounding rural areas, 15 rural electric cooperatives, and in Wyoming to the Yellowstone National Park. NorthWestern delivers gas to 180,100 Montana customers. In Nebraska and South Dakota it sells natural gas to 85,5100 customers.

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified utility company that primarily engages in regulated energy and unregulated energy businesses. The company’s Regulated Energy segment provides natural gas distribution services in Delaware, Maryland, and Florida; and electric distribution services in Florida to residential, commercial, and industrial customers, as well as offers natural gas transmission services primarily to other utilities and industrial customers in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Its Unregulated Energy segment sells natural gas to commercial and industrial customers in Florida, Delaware, and Maryland; and distributes propane in Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, southeastern Pennsylvania, and Florida.This segment also markets propane to wholesale customers, including independent oil and petrochemical companies, resellers, and propane distribution companies in the southeastern United States. As of December 31, 2009, the company distributed natural gas to approximately 118,000 customers; electricity to approximately 31,000 customers; and propane to approximately to 49,000 customers. It also operated a 384-mile interstate natural gas transmission pipeline. In addition, the company engages in non-energy operations, which include the provision of information-technology-related business services and solutions for enterprise and e-business applications in the United States and internationally. Chesapeake Utilities Corporation was founded in 1859 and is based in Dover, Delaware.

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