British Electricity Authority
The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the Central Electricity Authority[1] in 1948 with the nationalisation of the Great Britain's electricity supply industry. It was created by means of the Electricity Act 1947. The Authority took over the operations of over 600 small power companies, municipal authority electricity departments and the Central Electricity Board to form the BEA, which comprised a central authority and 14 area boards. The BEA was responsible for the generation, distribution and sale of electricity to users. It did not include control of the North of Scotland Hydro Board, which remained independent of the BEA.
Area boards
The new area boards were:
- East Midlands Electricity Board (EMEB)
- Eastern Electricity Board (EEB)
- London Electricity Board (LEB)
- Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board (MANWEB)
- Midlands Electricity Board (MEB)
- North Eastern Electricity Board (NEEB)
- North Western Electricity Board (NORWEB)
- South East Scotland Electricity Board
- South Eastern Electricity Board (SEEBOARD)
- South Wales Electricity Board (SWALEC)
- South West Scotland Electricity Board
- South Western Electricity Board (SWEB)
- Southern Electricity Board (SEB)
- Yorkshire Electricity Board (YEB)
Formation of the Central Electricity Authority
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 Scottish 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.
See also
- Electricity Act 1947
- Electricity Act 1957
- Electricity Act 1989
- Utilities Act 2000
- Timeline of the UK electricity supply industry
- List of pre-nationalisation UK electric power companies
- Public electricity supplier
References
Notes
- ↑ Katzarov. _Theory of Nationalization_ (Springer Science & Business Media, Dec 6, 2012). https://books.google.ae/books?id=M9HoCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=Electricity+Act+1947&source=bl&ots=dKN5DoV9kE&sig=dMR4dYCJxfygLJ_eunt2NNu4Uy4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CE8Q6AEwCWoVChMIqMvb7cCPxgIVylUUCh1zYABF#v=onepage&q=Electricity%20Act%201947&f=false
Bibliography
- Brady, Robert A. (1950). Crisis in Britain. Plans and Achievements of the Labour Government. University of California Press., on nationalization 1945-50, pp 132-82
- Hannah, Leslie (1979). Electricity before Nationalisation: A Study of the Development of the Electricity Supply Industry in Britain to 1948. London & Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd. ISBN 0-333-22086-2.
- Hannah, Leslie (1982). Engineers, Managers, and Politicians: The First Fifteen years of Nationalised Electricity in Britain. London & Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. (Johns Hopkins UP: ISBN 0-8018-2862-7)