How it started
History
In 1886, the Phoenix Light and Fuel Company was formed to provide electricity and heat to the people of the three-year-old town of Phoenix. In 1901, it built two hydroelectric power stations to provide power to Phoenix.
It changed its name to Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1906 and to Central Arizona Light and Power in 1920. The Childs-Irving Hydroelectric Facilities, began producing power in 1909 to support local mining operations. The company began paying an annual dividend from 1920, and continued to do so without interruption until 1989.
The company became a subsidiary of the giant conglomerate American Power and Light in 1925, but became an independent company once again in 1945. In 1949, it merged with Northern Arizona Power and Light. In 1952, it merged with Arizona Edison and changed its name to Arizona Public Service.
The stock doubled in price through the long bear market of the 1970s, while paying a 10% dividend yield. By then it had become an electric and natural gas utility fueled 94.4% by coal plants, 5.2% by natural gas, and 0.4% by oil. The company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, and in 1976, the company issued a preferred stock (formerly NYSE: PR ARP PR) with a 10.5% dividend, callable in 1990. APS also performed well through the early 1980s recession, reaching peak earnings of over US$255 million in 1983. However, by then the company had accumulated over US$2.1 billion in long-term debt.
In 1982, APS issued another preferred stock (formerly NYSE: PR O ARP PR O) with an 11.9% dividend, callable in 1987. And in 1983, it issued a third preferred stock (formerly NYSE: PR Q ARP PR Q) paying an adjustable rate between 6 and 12%, through 1986. 1984 was a down year for both earnings and the stock price, which at its low that year had lost almost half its value from the 1983 peak.
From Wikipedia’s article on Arizona Public Service, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2