The company still exists as a shell but is no longer active; however, for more than a century, it was the major producer of energy in the province of Nova Scotia, and its largest public transit operator.

[6] In 1889, a group of investors including Charles Annand, publisher of the Morning Chronicle newspaper, founded the Nova Scotia Power Company, Limited, taking over street railway operations with the intention of electrifying them; however, the firm was undercapitalized and was unable to build a generating station.

In 1924, the firm sold its interest to Royal Securities Corporation, the brokerage house headed by Nova Scotia financier Izaak Walton Killam.

[12] Lt.-Col. John Crerar (Jack) MacKeen (1898-1972), a prominent Nova Scotia businessman and Killam protege, led NSLP for its last four decades.

Under its Avon River subsidiary, NSLP continued to acquire small and municipally-owned systems in Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties over the next few decades.

[19] In the post-war period, gas production remained mostly steady between 190 and 200 million cubic feet per year, but rising coal and labour costs made the operation only marginally profitable.

[21] The company's major thermal generating station, on Lower Water Street in Halifax, was expanded several times over the years, the last being a 90,000 kW addition in 1956.

[22] But as early as 1954 the company recognized the demand for power would exceed the capacity of the plant, and announced it was planning to construct a new 100,000 kW facility at Tufts Cove in Dartmouth.

When it was opened, in a lavish ceremony featuring costumed Indigenous and European re-enactors, Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor Victor deB.

"[24] In 1956, NSLP commissioned at its own expense a pair of studies into the viability of commercial tidal power development at the head of the Bay of Fundy.

The two studies, by Stone & Webster and by Montreal Engineering Company, independently concluded that millions of horsepower could be harnessed from Fundy but that development costs would be commercially prohibitive at that time.

[26] NSLP promoted the use of electric power to consumers by opening a chain of retail stores in 1951, marketing both household and commercial appliances.

The retail program was intended to “create and stimulate public acceptance of electric appliances” [27] and featured “nationally known lines” of water heaters, dishwashers, dryers and other products not yet in wide use.

[28] The chain's flagship store was prominently located in Halifax, in the Capitol Theatre building at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Barrington Street, also home to the company's head offices.

The cars, originally painted a conservative dark green, were repainted a bright canary yellow and cream in 1927 for improved visibility.

[41] A total of 87 trolleycoaches, produced by Canadian Car and Foundry and later by Pullman Standard, were to serve peninsular Halifax exclusively until 1963 when the fleet was supplemented with General Motors diesel buses.

After years of mounting losses and political debate, the City of Halifax agreed to assume ownership of NSLP's transit service, now all-diesel, on the same day.

At the same time, the company built a major new addition to its Water Street generating station to meet the demand posed by a doubling of the city's population during the war years.

[44] Traffic growth put heavy demands on the transit system during both wars, necessitating virtual replacement of streetcar fleets after both conflicts.

"[48] NSLP prided itself on its good corporate citizenship, and was heavily involved in community events, parades and exhibitions, and maintained its properties meticulously.

NSLP's triangular logo, variations of which the company employed since at least the 1920s, represented the organization's three key publics: employees, customers and shareholders.

Reddy Kilowatt, a branding character created in 1926 by Ashton B. Collins Sr. at Alabama Power Company, served as good-will ambassador for about 300 publicly traded utilities around the world.

The image of Reddy Kilowatt, with his lightning-bolt limbs and light-bulb nose, featured prominently in company advertising, promotions and signage and was incorporated into NSLP's corporate logo in 1951.

)[50] The company commissioned the prominent Nova Scotia marine artist William E. deGarthe (1907-1983) to paint an original seascape for the cover of its 1951 annual report, a tradition it repeated for the next 20 years.

Originally and popularly known as Fantasyland, this Christmas-time show was staged for most of its existence in the basement of the Capitol Theatre Building in Halifax, where NSLP had its headquarters.

Popular recurring characters, including an animated Santa Claus, pneumatically-operated snowman and clown, and a moon-jumping cow, were supplemented each year by an array of new dancing and singing creatures from fairy tales and Christmas stories.

[54] Edwards also designed the company's artistic and ambitious annual parade floats and the imaginative window displays at its retail appliance stores.

In December, 1971 the Government of Nova Scotia announced that it was launching a hostile takeover bid to acquire controlling interest in NSLP, with the intention of consolidating electric generation and distribution in the province under the Crown-owned NSPC.

[55] Opponents of the deal included municipal leaders who feared the loss of property tax revenue paid by the private sector company; the province's major daily newspaper, the Chronicle Herald, called the takeover "a high-handed assault on the free-enterprise system.

[57] NSLP continued to exist as a separate entity following the takeover, but by 1973 was essentially a shell with all its assets leased to the renamed Nova Scotia Power Corporation.