British Electricity Authority

Last updated
British Electricity Authority
TypeState owned government body and regulator
IndustryEnergy: electricity
PredecessorElectricity undertakings, Central Electricity Board, Electricity Commissioners
Founded15 August 1947
Defunct31 March 1955
FateRestructuring
Successor Central Electricity Authority
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
Area served
England, Wales and Southern Scotland
Key people
see text
Production output
69,077 GWh (1955)
ServicesElectricity generating, transmission and sales
Revenue£366.8 million (1955)
£18.8 million (1955)
Number of employees
179,171 (1955)
Divisions Central authority and 14 area boards

The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority [1] in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for the generation, transmission and sale of electricity to area electricity boards, and the development and maintenance of an efficient, coordinated and economical system of electricity supply. [2]

Contents

History

The authority took over the operations of over 600 small public supply power companies, municipal authority electricity departments and the Central Electricity Board to form the BEA, which comprised a central authority and 14 area boards. Its scope did not include control of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, which had been founded in 1943 and remained independent of the BEA.

The appointment of chairmen and members of the BEA and the area boards were made in August 1947 and the BEA was formally established on 15 August 1947. [3] The 14 area boards were formally established on 1 January 1948, and Vesting Day, when the BEA and area boards became responsible for electricity supply, was on 1 April 1948. [3]

The London headquarters were initially at British Electricity House, Great Portland Street, W1, then British Electricity House, Trafalgar Buildings, Strand, SW1, and British Electricity House, Winsley Street, W1. [4]

Board structure

The British Electricity Authority was established by Section 2 of the Electricity Act 1947. It comprised a chairman and four to six other members appointed by the Minister of Fuel and Power; four members, also appointed by the minister, who were chairmen of an area electricity board (in rotation); and one other member who was chairman of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board. [5]

Management board members

The first appointments to the board were: [6]

Subsequent appointments were, by rotation, the chairman of the South Eastern (Norman R. Elliott), East Midlands (C. R. King), South Wales (L. Howes) and South East Scotland Electricity Board (Sir Norman Duke) were appointed members of the BEA from 1 January 1950. Their terms expired on 31 December 1951 and were succeeded by the appointment of C. T. Melling (Eastern Electricity Board), H. H. Mullens (North Eastern), H. Nimmo (Southern), and S. F. Steward (South Western). [7]

Sir John Hacking retired in 1953 and his place on the board was taken by Josiah Eccles as deputy chairman with effect from January 1954. [8]

Appointments by rotation with effect from 1 January 1954 were H. J. Randall (London), W. S. Lewis (Midlands), D. Bellamy (Yorkshire), and Sir John Hallsworth (North Western). [8]

Headquarters organisation

The headquarters organisation had seven main departments. [9]

The Chief Contracts Officer (F. W. Smith) was responsible to both of the deputy chairmen.

A board member (E. W. Bussey) was responsible for Labour Relations and Welfare.

Under the Deputy Chairman for Administration (Sir Henry Self) were:

Under the Deputy Chairman for Operations (Sir John Hacking) was:

Area boards

Area electricity boards were established by Section 3 of the Electricity Act 1947. They were responsible for the distribution of electricity and sales to customers. They comprised a chairman and five to seven other members appointed by the Minister of Fuel and Power after consultation with the central authority; and one member holding the office of chairman of the consultative council. [10] The new area boards were: [11]

  1. East Midlands Electricity Board (EMEB)
  2. Eastern Electricity Board (EEB)
  3. London Electricity Board (LEB)
  4. Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board (MANWEB)
  5. Midlands Electricity Board (MEB)
  6. North Eastern Electricity Board (NEEB)
  7. North Western Electricity Board (NORWEB)
  8. South East Scotland Electricity Board
  9. South Eastern Electricity Board (SEEBOARD)
  10. South Wales Electricity Board (SWALEC)
  11. South West Scotland Electricity Board
  12. South Western Electricity Board (SWEB)
  13. Southern Electricity Board (SEB)
  14. Yorkshire Electricity Board (YEB)

Consultative councils

Section 7 of the Electricity Act 1947 established a consultative council for each of the area electricity boards. These councils had the duty of considering matters affecting the distribution of electricity in the area, including tariffs and the provision of new or improved services, following representations by consumers or other persons requiring supplies; they could also consider any matter referred to them by the area board. They were to notify their conclusions to the board. [12]

The councils consisted of between twenty and thirty persons appointed by the minister. Not less than half nor more than three-fifths were appointed from a panel of members of local authorities. The remainder represented agriculture, commerce, industry, labour and the general interests of consumers of electricity in the area. [12] The chairman of each consultative council was a member of the area electricity board. [13]

Operations

Electricity generation, supply and sales

The electricity generated, supplied and sold, in GWh, over the establishment of the BEA was as follows: [14]

BEA electricity supplies and sales
Numbers in GWhYear
1947/81948/91949/501950/11951/21952/31953/41954/5
Electricity generated38,66542,82445,71751,85955,31657,36561,62169,077
Electricity supplied36,39140,31443,03648,88852,06053,92057,85764,860
Imports318472410363436430364311
Exports130194355353268244286276
Total supplies by BEA36,57940,59243,09148,89852,22854,10657,93564,895
Used in transmission6187587979489761,0531,2151,428
Sales to direct customers2406236767057097641,0161,431
Sales to area boards35,65839,21141,61847,24550,54352,28855,70462,036
Purchased by area boards from private sources11911390170189159169188
Used in distribution3,3484,0084,1195,0954,7974,8575,1915,845
Sales by area boards32,42935,31637,58942,32045,93547,59050,68256,379

Financial

A summary of the BEA's financial results is as follows: [14]

BEA financial summary
£ millionYear
1948/91951/21952/31953/41954/5
Income from electricity sales191.1256.4285.6319.6356.3
Other6.78.06.77.810.5
Total income197.8264.4292.3327.4366.8
Expenditure177.1237.5255.1279.8310.5
Operating profit20.726.937.247.656.3
Interest16.324.029.934.437.5
Profit after interest4.42.97.313.218.8

Employees

There were a total of 169,000 employees in the electricity supply industry 1952, comprising: [14]

Managerial and higher executive1,224
Technical and scientific13,707
Technical staff trainees537
Executive, clerical, accountancy and sales39,669
Industrial107,652
Apprentices5,911

Publications

Successors

As a result of the Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act 1954, the British Electricity Authority was replaced on 1 April 1955 by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for England and Wales. At the same time, the two South of Scotland Area Boards and the associated electricity generation and distribution plant were merged into the South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) to form an integrated electricity board responsible for generation, distribution and electricity supply in southern and central Scotland.

Soon afterwards, the Electricity Act 1957 dissolved the Central Electricity Authority, which it replaced with the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the Electricity Council. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a result of the Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act 1954, which moved responsibility for Scottish electricity supply to the Scottish Office.

The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations to generate electricity for the board, to provide main transmission lines to interconnect selected stations and electricity undertakers, and to standardise generating frequency.

The Electricity Commissioners were a department of the United Kingdom government's Ministry of Transport, which regulated the electricity supply industry from 1920 until nationalisation in 1948. It was responsible for securing reorganisation on a regional basis and considered schemes for centralisation in a small number of large generating stations owned by joint electricity authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electricity Act 1947</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Electricity Act 1947 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the electricity supply industry in Great Britain. It established a central authority called the British Electricity Authority (BEA) to own and operate all public electricity generation and transmission facilities and created 14 area electricity boards with a duty to acquire bulk supplies of electricity from the central authority and to distribute and sell electricity economically and efficiently to industrial, commercial and domestic consumers. It vested 505 separate local authority and company owned electricity undertakings in the BEA with effect from 1 April 1948. The Electricity Act 1947 is one of a number of Acts promulgated by the post-war Labour government to nationalise elements of the UK’s industrial infrastructure; other Acts include the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946; Transport Act 1947 ; Gas Act 1948; and Iron and Steel Act 1949.

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The South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) generated, transmitted and distributed electricity throughout the south of Scotland, including the former regions of Strathclyde, Lothian, Fife, Central, Borders and Dumfries and Galloway and a few towns in northern England. It operated from 1955 to 1991.

The East Midlands Electricity Board (EMEB) was formed in 1947 as one of the United Kingdom's twelve area electricity boards specified under the Electricity Act 1947. In 1990 it was floated on the stock market as East Midlands Electricity plc, which went through several changes of ownership.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electricity Act 1957</span> UK legislation to restructure the electricity industry

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electricity (Supply) Act 1919</span> United Kingdom legislation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electricity (Supply) Act 1922</span> United Kingdom legislation

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The London and Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority was a United Kingdom statutory body established in 1925 with the responsibility to "provide or secure the provision of a cheap and abundant supply of electricity” within the County of London and parts of the surrounding home counties. The Authority acquired electricity in bulk from electricity undertakings for distribution, and operated some power stations in Surrey. The Authority was abolished upon nationalisation of the British electricity industry in 1948.

References

Notes

  1. Konstantin Katzarov (6 December 2012). The Theory of Nationalisation. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 213. ISBN   978-94-015-1055-4.
  2. Electricity Act 1947 Section 1
  3. 1 2 Electricity Council (1987). Electricity Supply in the United Kingdom: a Chronology. London: Electricity Council. pp. 60, 61. ISBN   085188105X.
  4. Trade Directory, 1949 and 1955
  5. Electricity Act 1947 Section 2
  6. "New Board for Electricity". The Times. 22 August 1947. p. 3.
  7. "Electricity Authority Appointments". The Times. 7 January 1952. p. 2.
  8. 1 2 "Electricity Authority Appointments". The Times. 11 December 1953. p. 8.
  9. British Electricity Authority (1950). British Electricity Authority Publications Volume 3. London: British Electricity Authority.
  10. Electricity Act 1947 Section 3
  11. Electricity Act 1947 First Schedule
  12. 1 2 Electricity Act 1947 Section 7
  13. Electricity Act 1947, Section 3(3)(b)
  14. 1 2 3 Electricity Council (1979). Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1979. London: Electricity Council. pp. 22–3, 35, 96. ISBN   0851880762.
  15. Competition Commission (UK), Report on Electricity Supply Industry, 1987 (PDF) Archived March 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography