Company portrait

EW Mels has been in existence since 1954 and employs 16 full-time and 3 part-time employees who work around the clock to ensure that you as a customer are optimally supplied with electricity, drinking and extinguishing water as well as TV and Internet via cable.

The public water supply has existed in Mels for over 100 years and electricity has been produced since 1904.

Elektrizitätswerk
Pioneer Arnold Hartmann acquired the state concession for the exploitation of hydropower on the Seez in 1904. Contracts were signed with the municipalities of Mels and Sargans for the construction of the "Schlössli" hydroelectric plant in Seeztobel (now the Tobel power plant) and the creation of a primary and secondary grid in the two municipalities.

The hydroelectric power plant in the rear Seeztobel was initially equipped with a 150 HP turbine. However, electricity consumption was initially quite modest. Mels, for example, only had 12 electricity consumers at the time. However, the benefits of electricity soon became known far and wide, and the number of subscribers and consumption increased rapidly.

Only two years after the start of operations, an expansion was necessary, and by 1910 three turbines with a total output of 600 hp had already been installed. All three came from the Hartmann machine factory in Flums, from which the founder of the power station had emerged.

While the subscribers of Mels, Sargans and Flums could normally be supplied from the production of the "Schlössli" plant alone, bottlenecks were a recurring problem, especially when water was scarce. In 1920, the Hartmann network was therefore connected to the hydroelectric plant of the Spoerry company in Flums in order to be able to draw energy when needed. When the Plons power plant went into operation on January 10, 1948, the merger with the Spoerry company was terminated.

In 1954, the Hartmann family's fifty-year electricity supply contract with the municipalities of Mels and Sargans expired. The latter made use of the buy-back right for the distribution and production facilities stipulated in this contract. The political municipality of Mels acquired the business from the Hartmann family.

Waterworks
On March 10, 1901, at an extraordinary citizens' meeting attended by a large number of people, it was decided almost unanimously to build a water supply and hydrant system. This covered the areas of Vorderberg, the village of Mels and the village of Heiligkreuz. Until then, the water supply had been provided by wells, which were built and operated by so-called well cooperatives.

The important decision was soon followed by implementation and work began at the end of May and was completed within 1901. The first regulations on the water and hydrant supply were already in place in 1902.

In 2001, the municipality of Mels celebrated the 100th anniversary of the water supply. The anniversary brochure can be obtained from EW Mels.