Holyoke Water Power generated most of the electricity in the city pre-1902. See the chart below for use in lights. Thus in this tiny comparison, there is a very obvious shift from gas over to electric. The age of electricity was upon us.
| lights | electric lights | gas lights | naphtha lights (oil) | |
| 1875 | 85 | 0 | 60 | 25 |
| 1876 | 101 | 0 | 67 | 34 |
| 1878 | 113 | 0 | 78 | 35 |
| 1879 | 125 | 0 | 85 | 38 |
| 1880 | 136 | 0 | 99 | 37 |
| 1882-1883 | 163 | 44 | ||
| 1890 | 309 | 159 | 88 | 50 |
| 1891 | 333 | 183 | 49 | 39 |
Holyoke Gas and Electric was created in 1902 as a public city department from the electrical division of the private Holyoke Water Power Company.
A Jet Gas Turbine was purchased in December of 1963 and dedicated October 14 1964.
A 6,250 KVa number 9 generator was installed in 1941.
At 5:16 PM of November 9 1965 the Northeast Blackout hit the USA. This was the largest electrical blackout in American history.
In 1967, a new 13 kV aerial cable and 2000 KVA transformer are installed at the Mt Tom Ski area. In that same year on Dec 15th a Holyoke Substation was put in place.
There were other companies in Holyoke that made energy. Look at the coal plant in northern Holyoke.
