Yorkshire Electricity

Last updated

Yorkshire Electricity
Industry Electricity
Founded1948
Defunct1997
FateAcquired
Successor American Electric Power
Headquarters Leeds, England, United Kingdom

Yorkshire Electricity was an electricity distribution utility in England, serving much of Yorkshire and parts of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

Contents

History

Formed as the Yorkshire Electricity Board in 1948 as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Electricity Act 1947. The establishment of the company involved the amalgamation of 50 private and local authority power companies. The Yorkshire Electricity Board took over Scarcroft Lodge in north Leeds as its headquarters. [1]

Nationalised industry

The Yorkshire Electricity Board was responsible for the purchase of electricity from the electricity generator (the Central Electricity Generating Board from 1958) and its distribution and sale of electricity to customers. The key people on the board were chairman Arthur Bond (1964, 1967), deputy chairman R. H. M. Barkham (1964, 1967), and full-time member J. S. Yates (1964, 1967). [2]

The total number of customers supplied by the board was: [3] [4]

Yorkshire Electricity Board customers, 1949–89
Year1948/91960/11965/61970/11975/61978/91980/11985/61987/81988/9
No. of customers, 1000s1084153916471737181518511853190319291946

The amount of electricity, in GWh, sold by Yorkshire Electricity Board was:

Post privatisation

Yorkshire Electricity Board was privatised in 1990 as the Yorkshire Electricity Group plc.

In June 1993, Homepower stores were opened across the Yorkshire region. [5] Homepower was the retail arm of the company which was a joint venture with East Midlands Electricity. [6] At its peak, Homepower employed 900 people and had 130 stores. [7] This part of the company was sold off in 1996.

In 1997 the company was acquired by American Electric Power (AEP) and Public Service Company of Colorado (part of Xcel Energy) in a deal worth £1.5 billion. [8] In 2001 Innogy plc bought 94.75% of the company in a deal worth £1.8 billion. [9] The company was subsequently split into two entities, one a supply company, the other a distribution utility. The distribution company (Yorkshire Electricity Distribution Limited) was disposed of to CE Electric UK in 2001 in exchange for the supply business of Northern Electric. Northern Powergrid is now the licensed distribution network operator for the Yorkshire region. In 2002, the company divested itself of its Leeds Headquarters as most staff and processes had been transferred to the Midlands headquarters of npower by that time. [1]

Innogy was itself taken over by RWE. The supply company now trades as npower.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Electric</span> English power supply company

Northern Electric was an electricity supply and distribution company serving north east England.

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.

Norweb, originally the North Western Electricity Board, was a British electricity supply and distribution company. It supplied electricity to about 4.7 million industrial, commercial and domestic customers in the North West of England, although Merseyside and parts of Cheshire were instead covered by Manweb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E.ON</span> Holding company

E.ON SE is a German multinational electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It operates as one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. The name originates from the Latin word aeon, derived from the Greek aion, which means age. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, DAX stock index and a member of the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Power</span>

National Power was an energy company based in the United Kingdom.

Public electricity suppliers (PES) were the fourteen electricity companies created in Great Britain when the electricity market in the United Kingdom was privatised following the Electricity Act 1989. The Utilities Act 2000 subsequently split these companies between distribution network operators and separate supply companies.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midlands Electricity</span>

The Midlands Electricity Board was the public sector utility company responsible for the purchase of electricity from the electricity generator and its distribution and sale of electricity to customers in the Midlands of England prior to 1990. As Midlands Electricity plc it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

E.ON UK is a British energy company and the largest supplier of energy and renewable electricity in the UK, following its acquisition of Npower. It is a subsidiary of E.ON of Germany and one of the Big Six energy suppliers. It was founded in 1989 as Powergen, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON since 1 July 2002.

Southern Electric plc was a public limited energy company in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998, when it merged with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc to form Scottish and Southern Energy plc. The company had its origins in the southern England region of the British nationalised electricity industry. Created in 1948 as the Southern Electricity Board, in 1990 it was privatised by being floated on the London Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Electricity</span>

Eastern Electricity plc was an electricity supply and distribution utility serving Eastern England, including East Anglia and part of Greater London. It was renamed Eastern Group under which name it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Hanson plc in 1995, before being purchased by Texas Utilities in 1998.

Seeboard, formerly South Eastern Electricity Board (SEEB), was a British electricity company. The electrical power industry in the United Kingdom was nationalised by the Electricity Act 1947, when over 600 electric power companies were merged into 12 area boards, one of which was the South Eastern Electricity Board. It acquired the former Princes Hotel on the seafront in Hove, East Sussex, and converted it into its headquarters. The building was refurbished and substantially extended between 1979 and 1981.

The London Electricity Board was the public sector utility company responsible for the supply and distribution of electricity to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers in London prior to 1990. It also sold and made available for hire and hire-purchase domestic electrical appliances through local showrooms where electricity bills could also be paid. It was shortened to LEB in its green and blue logo, consisting of the three letters. As London Electricity plc it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Npower (United Kingdom)</span> UK-based electricity generator and supplier of gas and electricity

Npower Limited is a British supplier of gas and electricity to businesses. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON UK since January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Northern Powergrid Holdings Company is an electrical distribution company based in Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. It is the owner of Northern Powergrid (Northeast) plc and Northern Powergrid (Yorkshire) plc which are the distribution network operators for the North East England and Yorkshire regions and the North Lincolnshire area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SSE plc</span> British energy company

SSE plc is a multinational energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. SSE operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Integrated Utility Services is a high voltage electrical contracting business owned by an electrical distribution company and is based in Yorkshire in England. It is owned by Northern Powergrid which is the distribution network operator for the North East England and Yorkshire regions.

The Big Six were the United Kingdom's largest retail suppliers of gas and electricity, who dominated the market following liberalisation in the late 1990s. By 2002, six companies – British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, RWE npower, Scottish Power and SSE – had emerged from the 15 former incumbent monopoly suppliers.

References

  1. 1 2 Williamson, Howard (2 May 2002). "YE pull plug on Scarcroft". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  2. Electricity Council publicity brochure 1964 and 1967
  3. Electricity Council (1980). Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1979. London: Electricity Council. pp. 58 63. ISBN   0851880762.
  4. Electricity Council (1990). Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1989. London: Electricity Council. pp. 51 56. ISBN   085188122X.
  5. "Electrical stores run out of juice". marketingweek.com. Marketing Week. 17 February 1995. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  6. Hinchcliffe, David (11 June 1996). "Homepower (Closure)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  7. Hotten, Russel (2 July 1994). "Yorkshire Electricity to cut 1,000 jobs: Final redundancy figure could" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  8. Sabbagh, Dan (28 February 2001). "Innogy buys Yorkshire Electricity". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  9. "NPower firm buys Yorkshire Power". BBC News. 27 February 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2017.