The Wessex Electricity Company was an electricity generating and supply organisation that operated in south and south-west England from its establishment in 1927 until it was dissolved as a consequence of the

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the British electricity supply industry in 1948.

History

The Wessex Electricity Company was formed as a subsidiary of the

Edmundsons Electricity Corporation Limited The Edmundsons Electricity Corporation Limited was an electricity holding company that controlled and owned over 60 electricity undertakings throughout England and Wales. It was established in 1897 and was dissolved, despite its objections, as a c ...

on 29 July 1927. Its aim was to develop an integrated power supply system over a large area of southern England. The legal powers of the company were initially derived from the ''Wessex Electricity Act 1927'' (17 & 18 Geo. 5 c. lxxii). Further powers were obtained by three further Local Acts of Parliament: the ''Wessex Electricity Act 1928'' (18 & 19 Geo. 5 c. xc), the ''Wessex Electricity Act 1937'' (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. lxviii), and the ''Wessex Electricity Act 1940'' (3 & 4 Geo. 6 c. xii).

Constituent Electricity undertakings

The Wessex company assumed ownership of several small municipal and company electricity undertakings. It aimed to modernise, rationalise and integrate the distribution networks of these constituent companies. The company owned, at various times, the following electricity undertakings; the undertaking supply area is given where this is not apparent from the title: * Abingdon Electric Supply Company Limited *Chipping Norton Electric Supply Company Limited *Cirencester Electric Supply Company Limited *Cookham and District Electricity Corporation Limited * Crompton and Company Limited, Andover undertaking * Downton near Salisbury, generating station *

, Frome undertaking * Lymington Electric Light and Power Company Limited * Oxford Electric Company Limited *

Petters Limited Petters Limited (known as JB Petter & Sons of Yeovil until 1910), were a maker of stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards.Petter, Percival. ''The Story of Petters Limited'' (Westbury: David Edgington, 1989) In 1915 Petter founded ...

, Yeovil undertaking *Thames Valley Electric Supply Company Limited *Tisbury Electric Supply Company Limited * Urban Electric Supply Company Limited, Newbury undertaking *Wantage Electric Supply Company Limited *West Wiltshire Electric Light and Power Company Limited Oxford Council exercised its rights in 1931 to purchase the Oxford undertaking and was able to reduce tariffs. However, this created an independent electricity ‘island’ within the Wessex supply area. In 1938 the shareholders of the Oxford Electricity Company recommended the sale of the company to the Wessex Electricity Company.

Supply area

By 1937 the company was distributing electricity over a mainly rural area of 3,826 square miles (9,909 km²) encompassing a population of 750,000. It served most of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and parts of Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Somerset and Dorset. The area included several growing centres of population around

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

, Newbury and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. The Company had four Distribution Areas: North Oxfordshire; Mid Wessex; South Wessex No. 1; and South Wessex No. 2. The Wessex system also connected to other power company systems such as the Shropshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire Electric Power Company.

Expansion and investment

The expansion of the Wessex company’s business is shown in the increase in the connected electricity load in the late 1930s: The company profits were £253,222 (1936), £251,881 (1937) and £259,769 (1938). In June 1939 the Wessex company raised capital for future developments by the sale of £1.5 million of debenture stock. Following the Second World War the Wessex company proposed the expenditure of £3 million to bring electricity to a further 840 villages and hamlets in its supply area.

Electricity generation

The electricity generating capacity and output of the constituent power stations in 1946 was:

Company directors

The directors of the company in 1939 were: * Lord Meston (

James Scorgie Meston James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston (12 June 1865 – 7 October 1943), was a prominent British civil servant, financial expert and businessman. He served as Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1912 to 1918. Meston ...

, 1865 – 1943) (Chairman) * Wade H. Hayes (Deputy Chairman) * G. W. Spenser Hawes * F. H. James * Sir Thomas Royden (later Lord Royden) * A. Winterbotttom The registered office was at

Thames House Thames House is an office building in Millbank, London, on the north bank of the River Thames adjacent to Lambeth Bridge. Originally used as offices by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), it has served as the headquarters of the United Kingdom' ...

, Millbank, London

Nationalisation

The Wessex Electricity Company was abolished on 31 March 1948 under the terms of 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 nationalised the British electricity supply industry. The company’s power stations and electricity transmission systems were vested in the

British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...

. The local distribution systems and the electricity sales functions were vested in the

Southern Electricity Board 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 so ...

(SEB). The distribution districts were reformed as Board sub-areas and districts including Oxford, Portsmouth, Salisbury and Swindon Districts.

References

{{Reflist Defunct electric power companies of the United Kingdom Electric power companies of England Electric power infrastructure in England Energy companies disestablished in 1948 British companies disestablished in 1948