Lehigh Power Securities Corporation.

Lehigh Power Securities Corp. was incorporated in Delaware July 19, 1917, as a holding company. Its organizers, Electric Bond and Share Co., created it as part of their program to integrate electric and gas utility companies in eastern Pennsylvania.

The corporation acquired control of the stock of Lehigh Navigation Electric Co. and through this firm the stock of The Harwood Electric Co. and its subsidiaries. It also acquired control of Lehigh Valley Transit Co., Lehigh Valley Light & Power Co., and of the companies formerly controlled by Northern Central Co. A June 4, 1920 consolidation formed Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.

During the 1920s and early 1930s PP&L continued to expand. Lehigh Power Securities Corp. played an important role in this process, acting as the temporary repository for the stocks of those companies destined for merger. The corporation also continued to hold stock control of several companies which were operated independently of PP&L, including Lancaster County Railway & Light Co., Lehigh Valley Transit Co., Mauch Chunk Transit Co., and Wrightsville Water Supply Co. By 1939 the subsidiary companies controlled by Lehigh Power Securities Corp. supplied electricity in over 700 communities.

From 1926 until 1939 Lehigh Power Securities Corp. itself was controlled by National Power & Light Co., which in turn was controlled by Electric Bond and Share Co. In 1938 the Securities and Exchange Commission cited EBASCO for violating the recently enacted Public Utility Holding Company Act. After a protracted lawsuit, EBASCO was forced to dismantle much of the complex hierarchy of sub-holding and holding companies it had created. As part of this process, Lehigh Power Securities Corp. was liquidated in September 1939 and all of its assets were formally transferred to National Power & Light.

From the description of Records, 1919-1939. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122459275