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The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was founded in 1901 to provide a supply of electricity to commercial and industrial users throughout the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, England. It built and operated power stations and constructed overhead electric power lines across an area of 1,800 square miles (4662 km2). The company’s power stations were at Thornhill, Barugh, Ferrybridge and Mexborough. The company promoted and stimulated demand for electric power and it was financially profitable for its shareholders. The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was dissolved in 1948 when the British electricity supply industry was nationalised. Its power stations were vested in the British Electricity Authority and its electricity distribution and sales functions were taken over by the
Yorkshire Electricity Board Yorkshire Electricity was an electricity distribution utility in England, serving much of Yorkshire and parts of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. History Formed as the Yorkshire Electricity Board in 1948 as part of the nationalisat ...
.


History

In the late 1890s a group of large and influential manufacturing firms in West Yorkshire wished to promote an electric power company to provide a cheap and abundant supply of electricity. Sixty-three shareholders formed the Yorkshire Electric Power Syndicate Limited. In association with the promoters of the ''South Yorkshire Electric Power Bill'' they sought to obtain a Local Act of Parliament to give them the necessary legal powers. In 1901 Parliament passed the ''Yorkshire Electric Power Act 1901'' (1 Edw. 7 c. cxvi). The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was incorporated on 26 July 1901 under the provisions of the Act. Its function was to construct electricity generating stations and power lines to provide a supply of electricity throughout (initially) an area of 1,800 square miles (4662 km2) in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its initial capital was £2,000,000 comprising 200,000 shares of £10. As a power company it could only provide electricity for lighting where a supply for power was also provided. To allow it to supply electricity for any purpose, including lighting alone, the company established a subsidiary organisation: Electrical Distribution of Yorkshire Limited in 1905. Further legal powers were obtained in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922 and 1927.


Management

The inaugural Board of Directors included several industrialists associated with the iron and steel, electrical, and transport industries in Yorkshire. The Board comprised: * Arthur Greenhow Lupton (Chairman) * Robert Armitage * Arthur Currer Briggs * Hardman Arthur Earle (Managing Director) * Henry Cawood Embleton * William Paul James Fawcus * Robert Hudson * Sir Richard Mottram *
Thomas Octavius Callender Sir Thomas Octavius Callender (9 April 1855 – 2 December 1938) was an engineer and businessman, who promoted the electrical industry. Life Thomas Callender born at Clydeview, Partick, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the eldest of the ten childr ...
* Edgar Alfred Carolan The Company Secretary was James Milnes and the Company’s registered office was at 4 South Parade Leeds.


Power stations

The 1901 Act proscribed four power stations to be built by the company, these were at Mirfield, Methley, Wath and Bingley. Three of the sites were adjacent to coal mines which would provided fuel for the stations. All four stations would have access to a plentiful supply of water for condensing steam and providing cooling. The centre of the company’s area of supply was at Mirfield where the first power station was to be built. The power stations built by the Yorkshire Electric Power Company would outlast the company itself and continue to be used after nationalisation in 1948. Under the terms of the ''Electricity (Supply) Act 1926'' (16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 51) the
Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...
(CEB) was established in 1926. The CEB identified high efficiency ‘selected’ power stations that would supply electricity most effectively; Thornhill and Barugh were designated as selected stations.


Thornhill power station

Instead of Mirfield a site at Thornhill 2 miles (3 km) to the east was chosen.
Thornhill power station The Thornhill power station generated and supplied electricity to the town of Dewsbury and the wider regional area from 1902 to 1982, and again from 1998. The first generating station on the site was owned and operated by the Yorkshire Electric ...
was commissioned as a 4.5 MW station in 1902. It was extended in 1915, 1925 and 1932–37 when it had a capacity of 75 MW. The station was further extended by 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 ...
in 1950–54 and operated until 1982. The site is now (2020) occupied by a gas turbine power plant.


Ferrybridge power station

Ferrybridge power station The Ferrybridge power stations were a series of three coal-fired power stations on the River Aire near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England, in operation from 1927 to 2016 on a site next to the junction of the M62 and A1(M) motorways. The f ...
, later known as Ferrybridge A, was constructed in 1926–27. It was closed in 1976. Following nationalisation Ferrybridge B (1957–92) and Ferrybridge C (1966–2016) were subsequently constructed. The site is now (2020) occupied by Ferrybridge Multifuel power station.


Mexborough power station.

The Company had planned to build
Mexborough power station Mexborough Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the banks of the River Don, on the border of Mexborough and Denaby, adjoining Doncaster Road, in South Yorkshire, England. History The plant was planned by the ''Yorkshire El ...
from 1939 but this was delayed by the war and construction started in 1943. It was commissioned in 1945 and had a capacity of 120 MW. It closed in 1981.


Barugh power station

Barugh power station near Barnsley (53°34'24"N 1°31'09"W) was commissioned in 1913. It was fuelled by gas from the coke ovens of Old Silkstone colliery. This was used to raise steam at a rate of 150,000 lb/h (18.9 kg/s) which was used to drive two 2.0 MW and two 5.0 MW steam turbines coupled to generators giving a total output of 14 MW AC. Condensing water was circulated through cooling ponds adjacent to the station. Operating data for the station just prior to nationalisation is given in the table. The steam set was shutdown in 1958. Following nationalisation Diesel engines were installed by 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 ...
in December 1954. There were two 2.0 MW Mirlees, Bickerton and Day engines, the alternators operated at 11 kV. Operating data for the station is shown in the table. Barugh power station was decommissioned in 1963. The electricity substation at Barugh is still (2020) operational and has connections for 132 kV and 66 kV lines.


Electricity distribution

In 1927 Yorkshire Electric Power Company awarded a contract to Transmission Lines and Cables Construction Company of Keighley to build the Ferrybridge-Beal-Snaith 33 kV overhead line. The masts and towers were a combination of 'H' girder steel masts, lattice steel masts, lattice steel angle masts and lattice steel angle towers. They were designed and supplied by W. T. Henley (Henley Overhead Transmission). The
Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...
(CEB) constructed the national grid (1927–33) to connect power stations within a region, there is a 132 kV substation at Thornhill, and one at Barugh. The construction of the national grid in the mid-east England area was completed in 1932. The system comprised 16 power stations (including new stations at Kirkstall and Ferrybridge) interconnected by 322 miles (518 km) of 132 kV transmission lines. A secondary system was established in South Lincolnshire and Rutland to provide electricity to rural areas, this used 202 miles (325 km) of 33 kV lines. In 1932 the Yorkshire Electric Power Company registered the North Lincolnshire and Howdenshire Electricity Company as a subsidiary to supply electricity in an area adjacent to its existing supply area. In 1933 the company was responsible for 2,100 miles (3380 km) of mains, 775 substations and 214 pole transformers.


Operations

Although the company’s remit was to supply electricity over a wide area of West Yorkshire, its presence was not welcome by some municipalities. Some were unenthusiastic about providing a supply to the power company and councillors objected to using ratepayer’s money to supply electricity outside their municipal boundaries. Others objected to power companies supplying outside a local authority area which might prevent future expansion beyond current municipal boundaries. In Yorkshire, Leeds and other large municipalities opposed initiatives by the Yorkshire Electric Power Company to supply districts outside their boundaries. The company actively promoted the use of electricity by domestic, commercial and industrial consumers. The Electricity Commissioners were established in 1919 to define electricity districts and promote the establishment of Joint Electricity Authorities (JEA). The Yorkshire Electric Power Company saw the establishment of a Yorkshire JEA as an attempt to usurp the function of bulk supply for which it had been established. Several Yorkshire municipalities also opposed the JEA proposal and it was not developed any further. In 1923 Thornhill and Barugh power stations were both operational and supplying the company’s electricity requirements. The quantities of electric power sold and the associated income is shown on the table. Power companies became the management and financial centres for the development of the commercial sector. By 1932 the Yorkshire Electric Power Company held 51 distribution franchises over a much wider area than originally established. This included parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. By 1935 its supply area was 2,481 square miles (6426 km2). There were 1,411 miles (2271 km)  of mains providing electricity supplies to local authorities, electrical undertakers, textile mills, collieries, steel works, docks and other power users. In 1945 the company’s four power stations sold a combined quantity of 860 GWh, this increased to 1,095 GWh (1946) and 1,176 GWh (1947). Operational data for the four power stations of the Yorkshire Electric Power Company in 1946 are given in the table. The four power stations continued to operate following nationalisation, when they were owned and operated by the British Electricity Authority.


Financial

The profits of the company from 1912 to 1947 are shown in the table.


Nationalisation

The British electricity supply industry was
nationalised 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 ...
in 1948, as part of the post-war Labour government’s plans to bring the UK’s industrial infrastructure within state control. Nationalisation was enacted under the provisions of the ''Electricity Act 1947'' (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 54). The Yorkshire Electric Power Company was abolished on 31 March 1948. Ownership of Thornhill, Barugh, Ferrybridge and Mexborough power stations was 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 ...
, and subsequently the
Central Electricity Authority The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a r ...
(1954–57) and 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). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the Yorkshire Electric Power Company were transferred to the
Yorkshire Electricity Board Yorkshire Electricity was an electricity distribution utility in England, serving much of Yorkshire and parts of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. History Formed as the Yorkshire Electricity Board in 1948 as part of the nationalisat ...
(YEB).


See also

*
Thornhill power station The Thornhill power station generated and supplied electricity to the town of Dewsbury and the wider regional area from 1902 to 1982, and again from 1998. The first generating station on the site was owned and operated by the Yorkshire Electric ...
*
Ferrybridge power station The Ferrybridge power stations were a series of three coal-fired power stations on the River Aire near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England, in operation from 1927 to 2016 on a site next to the junction of the M62 and A1(M) motorways. The f ...
*
Mexborough power station Mexborough Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the banks of the River Don, on the border of Mexborough and Denaby, adjoining Doncaster Road, in South Yorkshire, England. History The plant was planned by the ''Yorkshire El ...
*
London Power Company The London Power Company was an electricity generating and bulk supply company in London, England, formed in 1925 by the merger of ten small electricity companies. In 1948 Britain's electricity supply industry was nationalised under the Electri ...
* National grid


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