New York public utility regulation. Later in his life, Hopson was known to boast that "the only laws he couldn't get around were the ones he himself wrote." It was later alleged that Hopson's rise in the Public Service Commission was due to his friendship with John Dix and the former chairman of the commission. By then recognized as one of the foremost experts in public utilities, Hopson left the Public Service Commission in 1915, to open a consulting business (H.C. Hopson and Company) at 61 Broadway in New York City. His company handled the business of American Telephone & Telegraph, The Consolidated Gas Company of New York, and the Electric Bond and Share Company. By 1921, Hopson was earning $100,000 a year. Associated Gas and Electric Hopson purchased, with John I. Mange, the Associated Gas and Electric Company of New York for $298,318.19. At the time, the company served 44,000 clients and had 3.5 million dollars in earnings. American Gas and Electric was a holding company organized in 1906 that owned several other gas companies. Ithaca Gas Light company was founded in 1852. It supplied gas to 28 customers, was formed with a capital of $75,000. It became AG&E on March 19, 1906, through the efforts of William T. Morris. At the time, it was composed of 14 different companies, with a total value of $1.2 million. By 1914, those 14 companies were consolidated to four, and eventually they were united under the New York State Gas and electric corporation. Several other companies both in upstate New York, Kentucky, and Tennessee made up AG&E's portfolio. When Hopson purchased a controlling interest in AG&E, he immediately began buying up more companies, expanding into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the Philippines. In the 1930s, the assets of American Gas and Electric were well over $1 billion, and they had revenues of $133 million. They served 1.75 million customers in 6,000 communities. At its peak, AG&E was made up of over 250 corporations (sometimes placed as high as 522, and occasionally as high as "5,800 names") providing electricity, steam, ice, water, and transportation in 26 states, Canada, and the Philippines to 20 million people. Eventually, it became the nation's third largest electricity producer, producing 9% of the United States' electricity, behind J. P. Morgan's United Corporation (23%), and Samuel Insull's various holding companies (11%). In addition, AG&E became one of