needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message the united illuminating company type subsidiary of avangrid industry electric utilities founded 1899 headquarters orange connecticut united states area served southern connecticut key people james p. torgerson president & ceo of uil holdings corporation products transmission and distribution website www.uinet.com the united illuminating company ui is a regional electric distribution company based in orange connecticut . established in 1899 ui is engaged in the purchase transmission distribution and sale of electricity and related services to 325 000 residential commercial and industrial customers in 17 towns and cities in the greater new haven and bridgeport areas . contents 1 history 2 major projects 3 notes 4 external links history edit ui s roots can be traced to 1881 with the founding of the new haven electric lighting company established to provide electric lighting to the city of new haven . the company had a troubled start and in 1883 was reorganized as the new haven electric company . in 1899 the new haven electric company under the leadership of james english acquired the bridgeport electric light company . the new company renamed the united illuminating company flourished in the new century as connecticut became an important manufacturing center and ui s franchise spread outward from the cities of new haven and bridgeport to outlying towns . regulated as a utility ui for many years exclusively owned and operated the electric generation transmission and distribution facilities in the greater new haven and bridgeport areas . 1 in 2000 as a result of connecticut s 1998 deregulation legislation ui was required to sell its electricity generation plants including the facilities at new haven and bridgeport harbors and to divest from other generation projects including the connecticut yankee and millstone nuclear power plants . in that same year ui became a subsidiary of uil holdings corporation a new haven based corporation structured to hold both the regulated ui and other non regulated business entities . ui continues to own and operate the transmission and distribution delivery infrastructure within its 17 town service territory . major projects edit united illuminating along with eversource energy previously known as northeast utilities parent company of connecticut light and power has participated in a number of projects to improve the reliability of the power grid in southwest connecticut . the first involving construction of the 350 million 345 kilovolt bethel norwalk transmission line through the western part of the state was constructed entirely by eversource energy . both companies together completed the 69 mile 112 km 345 kilovolt middletown norwalk transmission line at a cost of 900 million . it was energized in 2009 . notes edit john d. fassett . ui history of an electric company a saga of problems personalities and power politics . np np 1991 . external links edit the united illuminating company website uil holdings corporation retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the united illuminating company & oldid 732292954 categories energy in new englandpower companies of the united statescompanies established in 18991899 establishments in connecticuthidden categories articles needing additional references from february 2009all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 30 july 2016 at 23 26 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view