They’ve been around for more than 50 years, and you use their product every day, but chances are very good you don’t know who they are or where they are!

Ninety years ago, three electric companies assembled at the Center City headquarters of Philadelphia Electric Co. and formed the world’s first continuing power pool to coordinate use of the region’s generating plants, writes Andrew Maykuth for philly.com.

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Executives from the modern incarnations of those three companies — Peco, Public Service Electric & Gas Co., and PPL Electric Utilities — came together recently to mark the anniversary at the Valley Forge headquarters of PJM Interconnection Inc., the giant regional grid operator that grew out of that union, the story continues.

Valley Forge covers a large area, and the exact location of the company has always been protected.

The utility conglomerate, which became known as the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection in 1956, after the Baltimore utility joined the group, now includes more than 20 utilities whose territories extend over 13 states and the District of Columbia, between the Hudson and the Mississippi Rivers, writes Maykuth.

“We have the awesome responsibility for keeping the lights on for 65 million consumers,” Andrew L. Ott, PJM’s chief executive, said in a prepared statement. “To think we began in the basement of the Peco building and have grown to 700 employees and more than 1,000 members is incredible.”

To read the entire story click here.

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