1950s: Sacramento booms like never before
SMUD was forced to hit the ground running in 1946. The pace only quickened in the 1950s, when Sacramento saw a burst of growth.
In SMUD's first 15 years of service, the number of customers grew from 65,000 to 170,000. Electrical use more than tripled. The Cold War fueled expansion of Sacramento's military bases, driving thousands of newcomers to freshly built suburbs.
While the economy flourished in the 1950s and jobs became plentiful, the family home was transformed. Sacramento's booming population boosted demand for electricity. People bought electric ranges, central heating, electric washers, dryers and dishwashers and a range of small appliances -- waffle irons, coffee-makers, electric blankets and bathroom space heaters.
Mostly, Sacramentans embraced air conditioning. In 1959, sales of room air conditioners jumped 92 percent over 1958. For the first time ever, electricity use in Sacramento peaked in the summer rather than the winter.
The Sacramento family farm also changed dramatically. Instead of open ditches, farmers bought seasonal irrigation pumping and sprinkler systems, which freed them from the whims of nature. SMUD's Farm Sales group introduced farmers and ranchers to electrified dairy barns, infrared brooding, refrigeration and other electrical farm helpers. Farming changed from a family affair to an industry.
Beginning even in the earliest years of shortages -- when everything from trucks, copper wire and line crews to electric power was in short supply -- SMUD employees steadily engineered and built a flexible, well-integrated system. By the end of SMUD's first full decade, the system was able to supply electricity at any time to any home or business in the Sacramento area.
To help improve SMUD's power supply, management negotiated a low-cost contract for federal hydroelectric power from the Central Valley Project. In 1958, in a further effort to make Sacramento "energy independent," SMUD workers began construction on the District's own system of hydroelectric power plants on the upper American River.