Otter Tail Power Company has its headquarters in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The company was incorporated in 1907 when funds were secured to begin construction of the Dayton Hollow Dam southwest of Fergus Falls, MN. Once the dam came online in April 1909, the company transmitted power over a 25-mile low-voltage line to serve the customers of the Northern Light Electric Company at Wahpeton, ND. Fergus Falls is a city in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. ...

Shortly thereafter, contracts were secured to provide power at wholesale to the cities of Breckenridge and Fergus Falls, MN (the latter after their own dam failed). The first town served at retail was nearby Foxhome, MN and the company's territory grew to over 300 towns by 1929. Growth slowed during the Depression years, but by 1940 the company was ready for one more growth surge.

From 1940 to 1944, Otter Tail acquired 6 smaller power companies adjacent to its territory (at least one acquisition being a result of passage of PUHCA in 1935) which increased its territory to its present size of 50,000 square miles - about the same size as the state of Wisconsin.

At that point, the company had reached its 'maximum system' of 496 towns served at both retail and wholesale. As the company matured over the next several decades, the number of towns served within the region would shrink (mainly due to towns served at wholesale changing suppliers).

As of 2007, the company serves 423 towns at retail and delivers power to about 14 municipal utilities. The company currently has a workforce of over 750 employees, a generating capacity of 660 megawatts, and owns over 5000 miles of transmission lines (the majority of which are operated at 41.6kV). The company serves 128,500 customers in North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. It is the main subsidiary of the Otter Tail Corporation, which is traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol OTTR. Otter Tail Corporation is a small-scale conglomerate formed in the 1990s to offset the flat revenues from the utility operations. ^[1] The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ... NASDAQ in Times Square, New York City. ...

See also

List of United States electric companies This is a list of United States electric companies. ...

• Ottertail Power's website

References