The London Electricity Board was the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

utility company responsible for the supply and distribution of electricity to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

prior to 1990. It also sold and made available for hire and hire-purchase domestic electrical appliances through local showrooms where electricity bills could also be paid. It was shortened to LEB in its green and blue logo, consisting of the three letters. As ''London Electricity plc'' it was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and was once a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest marke ...

History

The board was formed as the London Electricity Board on 1 April 1948 as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by 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 ...

. The LEB was privatised in 1990 under the Electricity Act 1989, as London Electricity plc. The company was acquired by ''

Entergy Entergy Corporation is a Fortune 500 integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations in the Deep South of the United States. Entergy is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and gene ...

'', a US company, in 1996 and then by ''

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

'' in November 1998. Notable employees of the business include former prime minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

and the former archbishop of Canterbury,

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the Ch ...

."Dr Rowan Williams 104th Archbishop of Canterbury - The Archbishops from Augustine to Williams"
/ref> Chairmen of the LEB * 1948–1956, Henry John Randall (born 30 December 1894 London, died 5 May 1967 Buckinghamshire), previously managing director of the

City of London Electric Lighting Company The City of London Electric Lighting Company Limited (CLELCo) was a British electricity undertaking. It was formed in July 1891 to generate and supply electricity to the City of London and part of north Southwark. It owned and operated Bankside ...

.Who was Who * 1956–1968, David Blair Irving (born 9 November 1903, died 9 June 1986) * 1968–1972, Wilfrid David Drysdale Fenton (born 27 March 1908, died 4 May 1985) * 1972–1976, Owen Francis (born 4 October 1912, died 26 July 2005) * 1976–1981, Alan Plumpton (born 24 November 1926) * 1981–1986, David G JefferiesLEB Annual Reports * 1986–1990, John Wilson Other members of the board were: Deputy Chairman C.G. Moss (1964, 1967), Full-time member C.A.F. Beaumont (1964, 1967).

Customers

The total number of customers supplied by the board were:

Electricity sales

The amount of electricity sold, in GWh, by the LEB over its operational life was as follows:

History

Customers

Electricity sales

References

See also