Holló Szilvia Andrea: Budapest's Public Works - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

Direct current versus alternating current

level of io kV, this had to be converted by intermediary transformers to two-phase, 3 kV electricity. To meet growing demands (by now almost every tenement building had been connected to the network) the Kelenföld generator was extended several times, but the system was often overloaded, leading to power failures with a monthly regularity leaving entire neighbourhoods in the dark. The situation was exploited by the American European Utilities Co., which informed the municipal authorities that they were prepared to rent the Electric Works. They planned to close down the main plants of old after updating the Kelenföld unit and building a new one. The municipality chose to ignore their proposal and proceeded to undertake the burden of developing the system. After the death, in 1926, of Kálmán Reicht, supervision of expanding the Kelenföld plant was taken over by Virgil Borbíró (Bierbauer); it was his dream that came true with the futuristic, oval-shaped, glass- topped building of the control room. (The building, which is now a protected monument, will be renovated by the current owner, Budapest Power Plant Co.)

Despite municipal ownership now fully extended to both utilities, the electricians and the gas workers were engaged in an increasingly pitched battle for prestige, bringing several benefits to customers. Similarly to the gas suppliers, the electricity distributor also opened its district bureaus, started a cooking course in Eskü (today's Március 15.) tér, operated an emergency repairs centre, and young women in charge of customer information came to be known as "propaganda girls” in the industry. To be employed by the Electric Works meant a real career for a civil servant with the company being the country’s second best paying employer after the Hungarian National Bank. Everybody was entitled to a home-rental benefit, a 13th month salary

■ The Ganz factory built an electrically-powered floor polisher ai early as 1896

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