Reddy Kilowatt, for those who had forgotten as well as those who never knew in the first place, was the spokesman -- spokesthing, spokesvolt? -- for the electric utility industry. He had a torso and limbs made of lightning bolts, a light bulb for a nose and wall outlets for ears.
The character was dreamed up by an executive at
Alabama Power Co. in the 1920s but quickly spread to other utilities as a way to promote both consumption and safety. Puget Sound Energy's predecessor, Puget Power, began using Reddy Kilowatt in 1937, but turned the dimmer switch on him in the 1960s.
