ATCO Gas (wire service provider)
ATCO Gas has largely exited the retail energy and gas market within the last few years, choosing instead to focus on acting as a wires service and natural gas transmission service for Direct Energy customers. Its responsibilities include maintenance and repair of electrical transmission lines and continually developing improved monitoring of energy and gas usage for billing purposes.
As a natural gas distribution and transmission company, ATCO Gas provides businesses and homes with new natural gas service lines as well as gas meter installation, relocation and repair.
ATCO Gas’ service area covers almost two-thirds of Alberta and is available in 45 communities, including Grande Prarie, Fort McMurray, Fox Creek, Lloydminster, Stettler and Jasper.
ATCO Gas History
ATCO Group (TSX: ACO.X) is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. It was initially founded as Alberta Trailer Hire by S.D. Southern. Southern initially invested a total of $1,077 into the company, which offered the rental of 15 utility trailers in the Calgary area. Southern later expanded the business to include trailer sales, becoming Alberta Trailer Company, and later ATCO. As of the early 1960s, ATCO’s operations had expanded through North America and into Australia as well.
ATCO Industries Ltd went public in 1968 on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). In the 1970s, its operations grew to include the production and distribution of natural gas and petroleum products, and by the 1980s was also offering a range of electricity generation and transmission services.
ATCO’s 1980 purchase of a controlling interest in Canadian Utilities Ltd (formerly Canadian Western Natural Gas, founded 1912) of Calgary resulted in ATCO’s total assets exceeding $1 billion for the first time.
In 2004, after the deregulation of Alberta’s gas and electricity markets in the previous decades, ATCO spun off the retail divisions of its ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric companies, selling them off to Direct Energy Marketing Ltd. Direct Energy continues to offer ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric services to residential and business customers through its regulated company Direct Energy Regulated Services.
With the sale of its retail operations, ATCO (as ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric) focused on expanding and maintaining the transmission and distribution networks for electricity and natural gas in Alberta, facilitating the delivery of those resources to energy retailers.
In 2012, ATCO Electric split its operations into two divisions: transmission and distribution.
Despite the spinoff of its retail operations, ATCO has continued to improve the experience of electric and natural gas end users, introducing electronic Automated Meter Reading in 2011 to improve the accuracy of billing and communication with end customers.
The ATCO Group has operations across the world and has worked in more than 100 countries in its 70-year history. According to the group, it employs more than 6,000 people and has more than 87,000 kilometres of electrical powerlines.
What is ATCO, and what does ATCO do?
ATCO was originally launched as Alberta Trailer Hire in 1947 by entrepreneur S.D. Southern and his son, R.D. The plan was to service Alberta’s robust oil industry. Today, ATCO Group encompasses 18 companies and is a global, multibillion-dollar company. In February 2019, the group announced that its earnings in 2018 were of $355 million. ATCOenergy is a trusted partner of ATCO and is focused on delivering innovative energy solutions by leveraging the power of the ATCO Group of Companies and extending the value chain to Alberta homes and businesses.
ATCO Gas address
If ATCO Gas is your local natural gas distributor, there are many ways you can contact the wire service provider, including text messages, mail or via the “General Inquiries” form on its website.
ATCO Gas address
ATCO Natural Gas Distribution, Customer
Correspondence
PO Box 2409
Edmonton, AB T5J 2S3
