Pacific Power was the state owned monopoly power generator in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The corporation was formed from the New South Wales Electricity Commission in 1995. It was broken up into

TransGrid Transgrid is the manager and operator of the high voltage electricity transmission network in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM). The company's offices are located ...

, Delta Electricity,

Eraring Energy Eraring Energy was an electricity generation company in Australia that was owned by the Government of New South Wales, and had a portfolio of generating sites using thermal coal, wind, and hydroelectric power. It was sold to Origin Energy i ...

and

Macquarie Generation Macquarie Generation is an electricity generation company in New South Wales, Australia, owned by AGL Energy, and has a portfolio of generating sites using predominantly thermal coal power. The company now trades as AGL Macquarie and generates ...

in between 1995 and 2003. The consultancy division, Pacific Power International was acquired by

Connell Wagner Aurecon is an engineering, management, design, planning, project management, consulting and advisory company based in Australia, with operations in the Middle East, New Zealand and South East Asia. History Formed through the merger of three ...

at the same time.

Electricity Commission of New South Wales

The Electricity Commission of New South Wales, sometimes called Elcom, was a statutory body responsible for the generation of electricity and its bulk transmission throughout

. The Commission was established on 22 May 1950 by the Electricity Commission Act 1950 and its role was to take over power generation responsibility from the County Councils (such as the

Sydney County Council The Sydney County Council (SCC) was formed in 1935 to produce electricity and operate the electricity network in a number of municipalities in metropolitan Sydney. Unlike other New South Wales county councils, which were voluntary associations o ...

) and the railways, who until that time were responsible for power generation and distribution. It acquired the power stations and main transmission lines of the four major supply authorities (Southern Electricity Supply,

, the Department of Railways and the Electric Light and Power Supply Corporation Ltd, known as the Balmain Company). The commission was responsible for the centralised co-ordination of the states electricity generation and supply. Between 1950 and 1960 the commission more than trebled power capacity, from 490 megawatts to 1800. At first, this involved completing the expansions of Bunnerong, White Bay, Balmain, and Pyrmont, and completing new stations already designed by the Department of Railways:

Tallawarra Tallawarra Power Station is a combined cycle natural gas power station in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Owned and operated by EnergyAustralia, the station is the first of its type in New South Wales and produces electricity ...

near Port Kembla (1954), Wangi, at Lake Macquarie (1956), and

Wallerawang Wallerawang is a small township in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately northwest of Lithgow, New South Wales, Lithgow adjacent to the Great Western Highway. It is also located on the Main Western ra ...

, near Lithgow (1957).

Electricity Commission of New South Wales Trading as Pacific Power

The Electricity Commission adopted the trading name Pacific Power in 1992.

Pacific Power

The corporation was formed from the New South Wales Electricity Commission in 1995. In the early 1990s, Australian state governments began to deregulate state owned monopoly electricity commissions in order to promote competition, customer choice and potentially cheaper electricity. In 1995, the transmission assets were split off into a new organisation called

Transgrid Transgrid is the manager and operator of the high voltage electricity transmission network in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM). The company's offices are located ...

. In 1996, two new entities were split off - Delta Electricity and

. In 2000, the remaining power stations were transferred to a new entity,

, and the consulting business sold to

. Pacific Power was then closed in 2003.

References

{{EnergyNSW Defunct government-owned companies of Australia Government-owned companies of New South Wales Defunct utility companies of New South Wales Defunct electric power companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1995 Energy companies established in 1995 Australian companies disestablished in 2003 Energy companies disestablished in 2003