In 1906, the Electric Utility began operations by installing a city street lighting system.
In 1912, the City installed a 225 hp. diesel-generating unit and began furnishing electric light and power for domestic and commercial purposes. In 1913, another 225 hp. diesel unit was added to meet increasing demands. The continuing demand for electricity resulted in the installation of a 600 kW generator in 1930. The total capacity of the plant at this time was 3600 kW.
In 1928, Menasha Utilities Superintendent John H. Kuester and Clerk John Jebwabny, along with three superintendents from Kaukauna, Algoma and Sturgeon Bay founded the Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin which provides for a stronger and unified approach for all Wisconsin municipally-owned utilities.
The first two River Street steam turbines went on line in 1949, and were rated at 4000 kW each. This provided the Utility with additional capacity and for maintenance outages and emergencies. A third unit, with a rated capacity of 7500 kW, was built in 1956, and another unit with a capacity of 13,680 kW was installed in 1963. The total present day capacity of the River Street Power Plant is at 24.3 MW.
In 1966, the Kaukauna and Menasha Electric Utilities began a study for interconnection of the two systems. In 1969, the Melissa Substation was constructed to facilitate the Kaukauna-Menasha interconnection and serve new development in the city. The Utility operated as an isolated system. The interconnection was put into service in 1970. This was the first interconnection between municipally owned systems.
In 1980, Menasha Electric Utility becomes one of the 30 member-owners of Wisconsin Public Power Inc. (WPPI). WPPI has supplied the electric requirements of Menasha since November 1981.