Lehigh Navigation Electric Company.

The Lehigh Navigation Electric Company was a major electric utility company in eastern Pennsylvania.

Lehigh Navigation Electric Co. No. 1, was incorporated April 4, 1911. The company was organized by officials of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. in order to supply power to coal mines in and around Carbon County. It functioned as a legal entity to negotiate contracts for construction of a 20,000-kw power plant near Hauto, Carbon County. The primary contract was negotiated with L. B. Stillwell, a New York-based consulting engineer. As construction of the Hauto plant neared completion in 1912, the company arranged to consolidate with the 37 non-operating township companies which it had organized in 1911 and 1912. This merger, which was finalized on January 6, 1913, resulted in the formation of Lehigh Navigation Electric Co., No. 2.

Lehigh Navigation Electric Company, No. 2 was one of the largest electric power companies in Pennsylvania prior to the formation of PP&L. It supplied power to Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., for its collieries in and around Carbon County. It also supplied power to the Lehigh Valley's cement and steel industries, with Bethlehem Steel being one of the largest customers. In order to meet the area's growing demand for energy, the company built a 30,000-kw turbogenerator steam electric station at Hauto in Carbon County, and a 20,000-kw substation at Siegfried, 18 miles north of Allentown. In 1913, the company acquired a controlling interest in The Harwood Electric Co. and two years later the Hauto plant was linked to the Harwood plant by a 66-kw line. In 1918 capacity was increased again. A 22-kw tie-line was built which linked the company's distribution system to the Lehigh Valley Transit Company's Allentown steam electric station. By the end of World War I, output amounted to some 112,000,000-kwh, and the company's territory extended from Berwick on the Susquehanna River, to Bethlehem in the Lehigh Valley. This area included 150,000 customers.

In 1917, Lehigh Power Securities Corp. acquired the stock of Lehigh Navigation Electric Co. A merger with Lehigh Valley Light and Power Co., No. 3, resulted in the formation of The Lehigh Valley Light and Power Co. on September 11, 1919.

From the description of Records, 1911-1924. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122503369