SWALEC was an electricity supply and distribution company in South Wales, established in 1989 following the de-regulation of the electricity supply industry in the United Kingdom. The business has seen several changes of ownership from 1996, and the SWALEC brand has been used for retail gas supply as well as electricity. Today

Western Power Distribution Western Power Distribution was the trading identity of four electricity distribution companies in the United Kingdom: WPD South West (operating in South West England), WPD South Wales (in South Wales) and WPD Midlands (two companies, in the E ...

runs the distribution network business, and SWALEC Contracting is a trading name of

OVO Energy OVO Energy is a major energy supplier based in Bristol, England. It was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick and began trading energy in September 2009, buying and selling electricity and gas to supply domestic properties throughout the UK. By Jun ...

Predecessor

The South Wales Electricity Board (SWEB) was formed in 1948 under the

Electricity Act 1947 The Electricity Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54.) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the electricity supply industry in Great Britain. It established a central authority called t ...

, which brought about the nationalisation and merger of local authority and private electricity companies. The SWEB was responsible for the purchase of electricity from the electricity generator (the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

from 1958) and the distribution and sale of electricity to customers. The key members of the Board were: Chairman W.D.D. Fenton (1964, 1967), Deputy Chairman H. Pryce-Jones (1964, 1967), full-time member William E. Richardson (1964, 1967). The number of customers supplied by the Board was: The amount of electricity, in GWh, sold by South Wales Electricity Board was:

Formation

SWEB was privatised in 1989 as South Wales Electricity, one of the regional companies created by the

Electricity Act 1989 The Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29) provided for the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Great Britain, by replacing the Central Electricity Generating Board in England and Wales and by restructuring the South of Scotland Electricity ...

. The company soon began to use the SWALEC brand.

Purchase and breakup

The business was bought in 1996 for £872m by newly privatised company

Welsh Water Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

, which rebranded itself as Hyder. The business plan was to make significant logistical savings by combining the field activities of electricity and water supply operations by co-locating in fewer offices and operational depots. In 1997 SWALEC Gas was set up to take advantage of the deregulation of the gas market in the UK which took place in stages from 1997 to 1998. An advertising campaign was launched featuring

Wimbledon F.C. Wimbledon Football Club was an English football club formed in Wimbledon, south-west London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centrals, the club were a non-League team for most of their history. ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

footballer

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelse ...

. Hyder encountered financial difficulties and in February 2000 the retail electricity and gas business under the SWALEC brand was sold to

British Energy British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France (EDF) in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal-fired power ...

for a reported £105m. The sale included the SWALEC retail brand, whilst Hyder retained the SWALEC electricity distribution business (i.e., running the electricity network) which was renamed

Infralec Infralec was a short-lived electricity distribution subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Infralec was established in February 2000 by Hyder to operate the Welsh electricity distribution network previously operated under the SWALEC brand, when the res ...

. In August 2000

Scottish and Southern Energy SSE plc (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy plc) is a multinational energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is th ...

(SSE) agreed to buy the electricity and gas supply businesses from

for a reported price of £210m. In September 2000,

bought Hyder for £565 million, sold Welsh Water and renamed

to WPD South Wales. SSE continued to use the SSE SWALEC brand name for the supply of electricity and gas in Wales. Following the sale of SSE's retail business to

in 2020, SWALEC is a trading name of OVO. From 1992 to 2013 SSE was the sponsor of Wales

WRU Challenge Cup The WRU Challenge Cup (currently known as the Specsavers Cup due to sponsorship), or its full name of the Welsh Rugby Union Challenge Cup, is Wales' premier knockout rugby union competition and is organised by the Welsh Rugby Union. On 26 Februa ...

, and the SWALEC name was attached to a range of league competitions and trophies administered by the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

References

{{Area Electricity Board Defunct electric power companies of the United Kingdom Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom SSE plc Energy companies of Wales