Wikipedia / Southern Electric
Wikipedia / Southern Electric
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 (now SSE 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.
History
The company originated as the Southern Electricity Board, created in 1948 as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Electricity Act 1947. The board's assets passed in 1990 to Southern Electric plc, one of the fourteen public electricity suppliers, and that company was privatised in the same year. In 1998 the company merged with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc and became part of Scottish and Southern Energy.
SSE used the "Southern Electric" name and logo for a time as a brand name for retail distribution of gas and electricity in the south of England, before replacing it with SSE branding. Following the purchase of SSE's retail business by OVO Energy in 2020, the Southern Electric brand is a trading name of OVO Electricity Limited.
Southern Electricity Board
The key people on the board were: Chairman Henry Nimmo (1948–54), Chairman R.R.B. Brown (1964, 1967), Deputy Chairman W.B. Poulter (1964, 1967), full-time member A. W. Bunch (1967).
The number of customers supplied by the board was:
Year | 1948/9 | 1960/1 | 1965/6 | 1970/1 | 1975/6 | 1978/9 | 1980/1 | 1985/6 | 1987/8 | 1988/9 |
No. of customers, 1000s | 876 | 1429 | 1616 | 1829 | 1993 | 2095 | 2150 | 2312 | 2386 | 2424 |
Customers supplied by the Southern Electricity Board
Existing electricity suppliers taken over at nationalisation
The Electricity (Allocation of Undertakings to Area Boards) Order 1948 (SI 1948/484) transferred the electricity business of the following local authorities and private companies to the new board effective 31 March 1948.
Local authorities
Aldershot Corporation
Basingstoke Corporation
Bournemouth Corporation
Brentford and Chiswick Corporation
Calne Corporation
Chichester Corporation
Dorchester Corporation
Ealing Corporation
Fareham Urban District Council
Heston Isleworth Corporation
High Wycombe Corporation
Maidenhead Corporation
Marlborough Corporation
Oxford Corporation
Portland Urban District Council
Portsmouth Corporation
Reading Corporation
Southampton Corporation
Swindon Corporation
Weymouth Melcombe Regis Corporation
Winchester Corporation
Witney Urban District Council
Private companies
Alton District Electricity Company
Ascot District Gas and Electricity Company
Blandford Forum and District Electric Supply Company
Bognor and District Gas and Electricity Company
Bournemouth and Poole Electricity Supply Company
Brentford Electric Supply Company
Burford Electric Light Power Company
Egham and Staines Electricity Company
Farnham Gas and Electricity Company
Isle of Wight Electric Light and Power Company
Metropolitan Electric Supply Company
Mid Southern Utility Company
Milford-on-Sea Electric Supply Company
Milton and Barton-on-Sea (Hants.) Electricity Supply Company
Petersfield Electric Light and Power Company
Ringwood Electric Supply Company
Slough and Datchet Electric Supply Company
Uxbridge and District Electric Supply Company
West Hampshire Electricity Company
Whitchurch (Hants.) Gas and Electricity Company
Wilton Electricity Supply Company
Windsor Electrical Installation Company
Woodstock and District Electrical Distribution Company
Yorktown (Camberley) and District Gas and Electricity Company
Operations
The Southern Electric name continues to be used by SSE's subsidiary Southern Electric Power Distribution plc, the distribution network operator in the south of England.
In April 2013 the UK electricity market regulator OFGEM fined Southern Electric £10.5 million for breaches of conduct in relation to mis-selling, from the top of the business down.
See also
References