Expansion
In the first year of operation for the company, a ten per cent dividend was paid to shareholders from profits. By 1894 13 per cent of business and street lighting in Geelong was gas powered. In the City of Geelong there were 263 street gas lamps, in the City of Newtown and Chilwell there were 48, in the City of Geelong West there were 45, and there was a single lamp in the Shire of South Barwon. The street lights used gave the equivalent light of 15 sperm candles for each 5 cubic feet (0.14 m3) of gas burnt. However by 1913 most of the major street lighting contracts had been lost to electricity.
By the end of World War I capacity at the gasworks was stretched, so in 1924 the works were rebuilt with new technology. 1925 was the first industrial use of gas, before this time it was primarily used in households. The company built new offices at 161 Ryrie Street in 1920.
In 1957 the No. 5 gas holder was erected in Riversdale Road Newtown at a cost of £110,000 pounds to serve proposed gas main extensions south of Barwon River. By 1958 the company had 18,000 customers and 180 miles (290 km) of gas mains throughout Geelong. In 1963 it had grown to 250 miles (400 km) of gas mains, 46 per cent being less than 10 years old, and 30 per cent less than 5 years old. A new gas holder of 1 million cubic feet (28,000 m3) capacity was also commissioned during 1964, built by the Power-Gas Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd.
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