Prosperous History
Over 80 Years of Dedication to Safety, Innovation & Success
W.A. Chester, a United Utility company, is the industry-leading electrical contractor for installation, maintenance, and repair of underground high voltage cable transmission and distribution systems. Our clients are the nation’s electric utility companies and independent power producers. We work throughout the United States and Canada and are one of three specialty contractors performing this type of work on a national basis. In addition to underground systems, W.A. Chester has expanded its services to include installation, maintenance, and repair of overhead electric distribution cable systems.
W.A. Chester began as the Henry Ihle Company, which was founded in Canada in the 1930’s. Mr. Ihle moved the Company to Flushing, New York, around 1940 and was very active in installing underground cable systems for the local utility company and in the New York City subway system. The Company was sold to Mr. Chester in 1955 and re-named W. A. Chester, Inc. In 1973, the Company was purchased by Fischbach & Moore, Inc., and operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary and division until the summer of 1994 when it became a division of Fischbach Power Services, Inc. On January 1, 1996, the W.A. Chester division of Fischbach Power Services was acquired as W.A. Chester, L.L.C. (W.A. Chester) by Pepco Enterprises, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), now PEPCO Holdings, Inc. In 2000, W.A. Chester, L.L.C. formed a wholly-owned subsidiary W.A. Chester Corporation and another in 2006, Chester Transmission Construction Canada, Inc., to work in certain jurisdictions. In 2016, W.A. Chester became an Exelon company through the merger of PEPCO Holdings, Inc. and Exelon Corporation. On March 1, 2018, W.A. Chester, L.L.C. was acquired by Bernhard Capital Partners Management, LP and as a result of this, its California subsidiary W.A. Chester Corporation is now known as W.A. Chester America, L.L.C.
Highly Skilled Workforce
W.A. Chester management personnel possess, on average, over 30 years of valuable project and construction experience in the electric power transmission and distribution industry. They are members of the IEEE and the ICC. Our employees have the proven expertise to manage and execute projects from the conceptual phase through design, procurement, construction and commissioning.
Our project managers, field supervisors, welders, splicers and other key personnel, as well as our specialized equipment and vehicles, are based at our field offices and yards in Washington, D.C. and Charles Town, WV. From these locations, we dispatch our personnel, equipment, and vehicles to projects across the country.
Our parent company, United Utility, is located in Charlotte, NC
