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Wessex Electricity Company
The Wessex Electricity Company was an electricity generating and supply organisation that operated in south and south-west England from its establishment in 1927 until it was dissolved as a consequence of the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. HistoryThe Wessex Electricity Company was formed as a subsidiary of the Edmundsons Electricity Corporation Limited on 29 July 1927. Its aim was to develop an integrated power supply system over a large area of southern England.[1] The legal powers of the company were initially derived from the Wessex Electricity Act 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5 c. lxxii).[2] Further powers were obtained by three further Local Acts of Parliament: the Wessex Electricity Act 1928 (18 & 19 Geo. 5 c. xc), the Wessex Electricity Act 1937 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. lxviii), and the Wessex Electricity Act 1940 (3 & 4 Geo. 6 c. xii). Constituent Electricity undertakingsThe Wessex company assumed ownership of several small municipal and company electricity undertakings. It aimed to modernise, rationalise and integrate the distribution networks of these constituent companies.[1] The company owned, at various times, the following electricity undertakings;[3] the undertaking supply area is given where this is not apparent from the title:[4] [5]
Oxford Council exercised its rights in 1931 to purchase the Oxford undertaking and was able to reduce tariffs. However, this created an independent electricity ‘island’ within the Wessex supply area.[1] In 1938 the shareholders of the Oxford Electricity Company recommended the sale of the company to the Wessex Electricity Company.[8] Supply areaBy 1937 the company was distributing electricity over a mainly rural area of 3,826 square miles (9,909 km2) encompassing a population of 750,000.[9] It served most of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and parts of Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Somerset and Dorset. The area included several growing centres of population around Andover, Newbury and Oxford.[9] The Company had four Distribution Areas: North Oxfordshire; Mid Wessex; South Wessex No. 1; and South Wessex No. 2.[10] The Wessex system also connected to other power company systems such as the Shropshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire Electric Power Company.[11] Expansion and investmentThe expansion of the Wessex company’s business is shown in the increase in the connected electricity load in the late 1930s:[9]
The company profits were £253,222 (1936), £251,881 (1937) and £259,769 (1938). In June 1939 the Wessex company raised capital for future developments by the sale of £1.5 million of debenture stock.[9] Following the Second World War the Wessex company proposed the expenditure of £3 million to bring electricity to a further 840 villages and hamlets in its supply area.[12] Electricity generationThe electricity generating capacity and output of the constituent power stations in 1946 was:[3]
Company directorsThe directors of the company in 1939 were:[9]
The registered office was at Thames House, Millbank, London NationalisationThe Wessex Electricity Company was abolished on 31 March 1948 under the terms of the Electricity Act 1947[13] which nationalised the British electricity supply industry. The company’s power stations and electricity transmission systems were vested in the British Electricity Authority.[14] The local distribution systems and the electricity sales functions were vested in the Southern Electricity Board (SEB). The distribution districts were reformed as Board sub-areas and districts including Oxford, Portsmouth, Salisbury and Swindon Districts.[15] See also
References
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