ALLETE provides light to the northern climes. Most of its business is classified within its regulated operations, which include electric, gas, and water utilities located in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. Those operations are conducted through subsidiaries Minnesota Power (about 145,000 customers) and Superior Water, Light and Power (about 35,000 customers for its electric, gas, and water utilities). ALLETE's other segment includes coal mining operations, emerging technologies related to electric utilities, and a real estate business (large land tracts in Florida). Subsidiary BNI Coal operates a mine in North Dakota that supplies, primarily, two generating co-ops, Minnkota Power and Square Butte.

Southern California Edison (SCE) distributes electricity to a population of more than 13 million people in central, coastal, and Southern California (excluding Los Angeles and some other cities in the regions). The utility's system consists of about 12,000 circuit miles of transmission lines and more than 113,500 circuit miles of distribution lines. SCE also has 5,500 MW of net generating capacity from interests in nuclear, hydroelectric, and fossil-fueled power plants; it sold most of its fossil-fueled facilities in response to the state's deregulation legislation. The utility sells excess power to wholesale customers. SCE is a subsidiary of Edison International.

Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (Piedmont Power) generates, purchases, and transmits wholesale electricity on behalf of its 10 member municipal utilities, which distribute the power to nearly 95,000 retail customers in northwestern South Carolina. These ten utilities serve the cities of Abbeville, Clinton, Easley, Gaffney, Greer, Laurens, Newberry, Rock Hill, Union, and Westminster. Piedmont Power was created to buy an ownership interest in the Catawba Nuclear Station in York County, South Carolina, in order to secure a reliable source of electric generation for its member utilities.The agency currently owns a 25% stake in the Catawba plant.

"Hey Culligan Man!" To be sure, the phrase made famous by an ad campaign still rings in the ears of Culligan International workers. Formerly a subsidiary of Veolia Environnement, Culligan produces filters for tap water, household water softeners, microfiltration products, desalination systems, and portable deionization services for commercial and industrial users. The franchised "Culligan Man" noted in the advertising phrase delivers bottled water and water systems to consumers and businesses through more than 800 Culligan company-owned and franchised dealers in more than 90 countries. Buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice owns the company.

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc. is a tax-exempt, consumer-owned public utility, organized in 1984 to provide low cost, reliable electric service for its rural distribution cooperative members. Its 16 member systems serve more than 185,000 retail consumers located in the Oklahoma Panhandle and an area covering 24 percent of Texas land area including the Panhandle, South Plains and Edwards Plateau Regions.GS Electric Generating Cooperative, Inc. was formed by Golden Spread in 1996 as a wholly owned affiliate to engage in exempt wholesale generating activities. GSEGC is a 50 percent owner of the 480 megawatt Mustang Station, a gas-fueled, combined cycle generating plant located near Denver City, Texas.Yoakum Electric Generating Cooperative, Inc. was formed in 2005, also as a wholly-owned affiliate to own and operate Mustang Station Unit 4, a new 150 megawatt combustion turbine-generator. The generating unit was completed in 2006, and in 2007 Mustang Station Unit 5, a second 150 megawatt combustion turbine-generator, was completed at the same site.

Mesa Power Group, it takes an oil tycoon from Texas to raise the profile of wind energy in North America. Controlled by veteran oilman and renewable energy proponent T. Boone Pickens, who gained national attention with the Pickens Plan, a campaign aimed at reducing US dependence on foreign oil, the company is engaged in developing and investing in wind power projects. It acquires these projects and completes development on them through a joint venture with GE called the American Wind Alliance (AWA). It typically targets projects in Canada and the US that have secured land control, access to transmission lines, and minimum capacity of 100 megawatts.

TestAmerica Laboratories (formerly Severn Trent Laboratories) can tell you. It operates about 40 environmental testing laboratories and more than 30 service centers in the US. TestAmerica provides chemical, physical, and biological testing of air, drinking water, tissue, and solid waste. The company has developed technologies to test air for fire retardants, explosives, radiation, and source emissions. Its affiliates include environmental and geotechnical drilling firm TestAmerica Drilling, water sampling equipment and remediation pumping system provider QED Environmental Systems, and air quality analyst EMLab P&K).

Seprotech Systems gets the salt out of old salts' drinking water. Designing, manufacturing, and producing water and wastewater treatment systems, Seprotech Systems serves a variety of markets, including industry, the military, municipalities, property development, and mining. Among its projects has been the repair and overhaul of shipboard reverse osmosis desalination units for the Canadian Navy. Seprotech Systems' Clementine transportable, containerized wastewater treatment plant is useful for mining camps, foreign-aid missions, and other remote work sites. It also has a water utilities unit, formed after the 2009 acquisition of Envirosearch. Seprotech Systems was founded in 1985.

United Water is a part of global water player SUEZ Environnement, and is one of the largest water companies in the US. The company distributes water and provides wastewater services to about 7 million people, including residential, commercial, and industrial customers. United Water provides services through a number of utility subsidiaries and through its contracts with several municipalities. The company operates almost 250 municipal water systems and owns utilities in 20 states across the country.

Exelon Corporation company distributes electricity to 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois (including Chicago) and southeastern Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia) through subsidiaries Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and PECO Energy. PECO also distributes natural gas to 485,000 customers. Subsidiary Exelon Generation holds the company's power plants, whose production capacity is just about 25,000 MW. About two-thirds of Generation's power is nuclear. Exelon Power Team is a top wholesale energy marketer, and Exelon Energy markets retail power and offers other energy-related services.

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