Electricity Council


The Electricity Council was a governmental body set up in 1958 to oversee the electricity supply industry in England and Wales.
The Council was established on 1 January 1958 to assume the coordinating and policy-making functions of the Central Electricity Authority, which had in turn replaced the British Electricity Authority. The Central Electricity Generating Board was also established in January 1958, as the body for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales.

Responsibilities

The Council's responsibilities included:

Background

In 1954, six years after nationalisation, the Government appointed the Herbert Committee to examine the efficiency and organisation of the electricity industry. The committee found that the British Electricity Authority’s dual roles of electricity generation and supervision had led to central concentration of responsibility and to duplication between headquarters and divisional staff which led to delays in the commissioning of new stations. The Committee’s recommendations were enacted by the Electricity Act 1957 which established the Electricity Council to oversee the industry and the CEGB with responsibility for generation and transmission.

Constitution

The Electricity Council was established by Section 3 of the Electricity Act 1957. It comprised a chairman, two deputy chairmen, and up to three other independent people appointed by the Minister of Power. It also included the chairman and two full-time members of the Central Electricity Generating Board. The remaining members were the twelve chairmen of Area Electricity Boards.
The chairmen of the Electricity Council were:
The full membership of the Electricity Council, as first constituted, was as follows.
Chief Officers of the Council
Later members of the Council included: P. Briggs, Sir Henry Douglas, Josiah Eccles, Lord Geddes of Epsom, P.A. Lingard, N.F. Marsh, R.D.V Roberts, and Sir Alan Wilson.

Organisation

The organisational structure comprised departments headed by an Advisor. By 1967 these were: Secretarial/Legal, Financial, Industrial Relations and Commercial. In 1978 new departments were created for Public Relations, Marketing and Engineering.
The Headquarters were in London, initially in Trafalgar Buildings in Charing Cross Road, then in the 1960s at Millbank Tower. For liaison with the Area Electricity Boards outstation offices were established such as in Bristol. The EC training establishment was at Horsley Towers, Surrey.
There were 535 staff in 1959, 1083 in 1967, and 1257 in 1989.
In 1969 the government proposed to reconstitute the Electricity Council and rename it the Electricity Authority with "new powers to plan and control the policy of the industry as a whole". The proposals were embodied in the Electricity Bill 1970, however Parliament was dissolved in May 1970 and the Bill lapsed.

Operations

In 1965 the Electricity Council Research Centre was established at Capenhurst, Cheshire. It undertook research on distribution technology and utilisation of electricity.
The Council took over responsibility from the Electrical Development Association in 1966 for all national promotional work carried out on behalf of the Area Boards, in 1968 this became the Council's marketing department.
The Electricity Council’s Electro-Agriculture Centre was established in 1967 at the Royal Showground at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. Over the following decade the Council published a series of guides on aspects of the role of electricity in farming and agriculture.
The Electricity Council's Appliance Testing Laboratories were expanded in May 1969 to improve the emphasis on performance testing.
The Electricity Council opened the Air Conditioning Advisory Bureau in Northumberland Avenue, London in 1970 to promote air conditioning.
The Electricity Council established British Electricity International Ltd. in 1976 to develop overseas consultancy.
In 1979 the Council published its annual Medium Term Development Plan, setting out the Council’s objectives for the electricity supply industry for 1979 to 1986. The Plan had not previously been publicly available.

Publications

Upon privatisation of the UK electricity industry in 1989–90 many of the functions the Electricity Council were no longer needed. A residuary body the Electricity Association continued for a few years.
The property, rights and liabilities of the Electricity Council were transferred to nominated successor companies on 31st March 1990 under section 66 of the Electricity Act 1989. The Council was formally wound up on 9 November 2001 by The Electricity Council Order 2001, made under the Electricity Act 1989.