Returning veterans were greeted with good news in the fall of 1945. After discussing the matter in October and November, the board of water and light trustees voted unanimously to establish a pension and annuity retirement system and a health insurance plan for municipal utility employees. Although hard-pressed for workforce and materials, the utility had come through the war years in good shape.
Muscatine Water and Light reported record sales for the period. The electric department rapidly outstripped the more stable sales of the water department during the war years. In 1941, Water and Light had reported sales of just under $400,000 for electric power; four years later, the annual electric sales figure had climbed to $575,000. The utility could afford to be generous.
During the war, it had adopted a policy of forgiving the December bills of all customers as a Christmas refund. In 1945, the board transferred nearly $31,000 to the city’s general fund for the purchase of two new fire engines and continued its free electric service for streetlights, public buildings, and traffic controls.
Other than current accounts, Muscatine Water and Light had no debt to speak of at war’s end. A large cash balance and portfolio of government bonds had been amassed for financing significant improvements, and improvements needed to be made.
The difficulty of acquiring iron pipes during the war necessitated halting the upgrading of the water system on the city’s west side. In October 1945, the board authorized the construction of a 16-inch main tying together the Muscatine Island Wellfield and the West Hill Reservoir. In addition, two new 20-inch wells were completed in 1946.
Pent-up demand for electric service created a boom in kilowatt-hour (kWh) sales in the post-war period. The grain alcohol plant on Muscatine Island adjacent to the utility’s power plant continued to expand during the postwar years. By 1947, the renamed Grain Processing Corporation was well on the way to becoming Muscatine Water and Light’s largest single customer. kWh sales remained strong following the war, as industries converted to a civilian economy, and returning veterans, flush with accumulated savings, started families and businesses and bought homes and cars.
On Feb.1, 1946, the board contracted to purchase a new boiler. By October, the board was able to order a new 12,500-kilowatt (kW) turbine generator for the plant. Water and Light costs for the new turbine generator were estimated at $345,000. Net earnings above $30,000 for the third straight year from the water works only added to the cash surplus. In 1948, Muscatine Water and Light issued $1 million in revenue bonds to pay for its post-war improvement program.
The new high-pressure boiler and turbine generator, Unit 6, went online in the fall of 1949, alleviating the critical shortage of electric power that had threatened to develop in Muscatine. One of the people who had worked hardest to make the new unit a reality wasn’t around to witness his handiwork. Vernon Lear, Water and Light’s first general manager for water and electric operations, left Muscatine in 1948.
