Bob Simmons of Crosscut.com just posted an article on how the prospective buyout of Puget Sound Energy by Australia’s Macquarie Group is raising hackles among those in their service area who fear higher rates and less control. As a result, some are calling for a mass takeover by local PUDs (public utility districts)…

1941 billboard with Reddy

Which brings up this billboard, which I found in the excellent photographic database of the Seattle Municipal Archives. If it’s a little hard to read, here’s a transcript.

HOODED EXECUTIONER [dragging Reddy Kilowatt, Puget Power's mascot, to the "chopping block for private enterprise," axe in hand]: If we can just get “Reddy” — the others will come easier!
NARRATOR: If they do — you may be next.

This was snapped on May 14, 1941, on Aurora Avenue N. in Seattle. This particular campaign of Puget Power’s failed, as City Light completed its buyout of private utilities within the city limits ten years later. But it does demonstrate that they’ve been fighting the fight for years, and will likely pull out all the stops this time around.

Thanks for the heads-up Ben!

Once upon a time, Northland TV stations made their own children’s show. The kids who watched those shows are now in their 40′s and 50′s but still fondly remember names like Captain Q and Mr. Toot. Dave Anderson tells us how a pair of fans is trying to preserve those memories…

“I’ve been doing research on this subject for nearly a decade now.” The biggest find was some actual Mr. Toot with Reddy Kilowatt footage found on an archaic reel to reel video tape. “We had to track down a company that had one of those old machines that could actually play that type of tape and have it transferred.”

“I bet I know what your favorite fish is. Electric eels!”

But it was another favorite lost to history that Duffy likes best, the “Reddy Kilowatt” mascot for Pacific Power’s downtown office where her father worked, “a little man with lightning bolts for arms and legs, a light bulb for a nose and wall outlets for years.” If that neon sign were still shining somewhere in Portland, I’d have to draw from the cheerful rhetoric of Rachel Ray: “How good does that look?”

It’s an electrifying day as a Sioux City icon, “Reddy Kilowatt”, has returned.

Friday Reddy was dedicated at the ISU Design West Studio for folks to enjoy.

The large neon sign welcomed travelers into Sioux City along I-29 from 1956 to 1996.

This new location is fitting because Reddy was made to educate students about electricity and now will be surrounded by students attending the design school.

Update: There’s an article at the Sioux City Journal, too: Reddy’s back in town (and it mentions us!).

Now Reddy, while you were back in the storage shed hibernating, one of your distributors, Xcel Energy in Colorado, was trying to make things better by upgrading some of those transmission towers over there just west of the Platte. You remember? Ok, Well, part of that route goes through Ruby Hill Park, you know, that old Indian lookout?

Well, some of the folks who live there kinda wanted you to improve the situation while you were at it, and, you know, put the lines underground? Expensive you say? Hey come on Reddy, give us a break here.

A historic Siouxland icon is getting “ready” to return to the Sioux City skyline.

Reddy Kilowatt, the former symbol of the Iowa Public Service Energy Company, is getting a facelift at kern signs.

Before there was MidAmerican Energy in Sioux City, there was Iowa Public Service. And if you’ve been around long enough to remember that you probably remember their Mascot Reddy Kilowatt.

This metal and neon sign used to adorn the I-P-S garage near Interstate 29. The mascot was once used to help teach school kids the dangers of electricity

After being in storage over ten years, Reddy is “Ready” to come to life again, but not without a little cosmetic work first.

More from KMEG: Reddy Kilowatt, MidAmerican Energy Symbol, Needs New Home

…does anyone know what happened to the giant light display of Reddy Kilowatt, the cartoon character that decorated the Ohio Edison building for decades in downtown Akron?

Built in 1940 by Electro Motive Corporation for the CB&Q Railroad. Originally numbered 9146, it was transferred to CB&Q subdivision Colorado and Southern as 155. It was then transferred to Fort Worth and Denver as 601, after the BN merger it became 103. The locomotive was sold to NSP in 1973 and was used at the NSP High Bridge Plant till it was donated to Gopher State Railway Museum in 1999. Reddy Kilowatt is painted on the side of #4 which was the symbol of NSP.

If you search distant memories — or search the Web if you are under 30 — you may remember a very interesting marketing character, Reddy Kilowatt. Created in 1926 by Alabama Power Executives, I am not really sure what Reddy stood for — most likely reliable energy delivered over electric lines. Based on the recent activity by power companies in the digital-services industries, maybe it’s time for Reddy to resurface as a symbol for broadband services over the same power lines. Delivering tremendous amounts of digital content and communications to consumers could make Reddy Megabit an instant success — especially with the Nickelodeon generation.