British Electricity Authority
1948 The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established with the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry. It was created by means of the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA, together with the South East Scotland Electricity Board and the South West Scotland Electricity Board and 12 area boards, took over the operations of over 600 (another source says over 560) small power companies, municipal authority electricity departments and the Central Electricity Board, plus nearly 300 power stations operated by these organisations, 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-Electric Board, which remained independent of the BEA. [1]
The BEA was given responsibility for generation and transmission whilst the Area Boards had responsibility for the distribution and sale of electricity to consumers.
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 South of Scotland 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.[2]. The north of Scotland had been dealt with under an earlier act (1943) which had established the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board.
See Also
Sources of Information
- History of the Electricity Council [1]