1932 - Energy

Energy

Standard Oil of California (SoCal) prospectors in Bahrain strike oil in early June with their first well in the British Persian Gulf protectorate (see politics, 1861). Production will reach 20,000 barrels per day by 1936, and SoCal will take in the Texas Company as an equal partner to avail itself of Texaco's marketing facilities in the Far East (see 1903; 1933).

Construction of the Hoover Dam proceeds on the Colorado River (see 1931); Frank Crowe completes Boulder City to house workers and their families (the gated town has one- to three-room wood-frame cottages that cost about $500 each to build and rent for $15 per month, and it has schools, community houses, and some other amenities, but no gambling or liquor is allowed and blacks are excluded); a diversion tunnel opened November 13 fully 11 months ahead of schedule redirects the flow of water so that steam shovels can excavate the river bottom (see 1933).

U.S. electricity rates peak at 36ยข per kilowatt hour (kwh), the amount of electricity consumed by a 100-watt bulb in 10 hours. Operating companies are subject to state regulation, but holding companies are not, and while they now begin to lower rates there is still widespread corruption in the industry (see 1935; TVA, 1933).

Chicago utilities magnate Samuel Insull runs into financial difficulties, and three of his largest companies go into receivership (see 1912). He has overextended himself to pay $65 million for Cyrus Eaton's shares in Commonwealth Edison and People's Gas Light and Coke, but while Eaton has made a profit of $15 million and seen his own net worth rise to $100 million, the collapse in Wall Street prices reduced Insull's net worth to less than $5 million. Now 73 and almost destitute, he is removed from his executive positions and indicted on charges related to his activities as president of Chicago Edison, Commonwealth Edison, Peoples Gas Light and Coke, and other companies. Many blamed him for the 1929 stock market crash, and he flees to Paris to escape prosecution. He will avoid arrest for 2 years and win acquittal after trials in 1934 and 1935 on charges of fraud, violation of federal bankruptcy laws, and embezzlement.