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 January 1958 to assume the functions of the Central Electricity Authority (1955–1957), which had in turn replaced the British Electricity Authority (1948–1955). The Electricity Council was also established in January 1958, as the coordinating and policy-making body for the British electricity supply industry.
Responsibilities
The CEGB was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales, whilst in Scotland electricity generation was carried out by the South of Scotland Electricity Board and the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board.
The CEGB's duty was to develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system of supply of electricity in bulk for England and Wales, and for that purpose to generate or acquire supplies of electricity and to provide bulk supplies of electricity for the area electricity boards for distribution. It also had power to supply bulk electricity to the Scottish boards or electricity undertakings outside Great Britain.
The organisation was unusual in that most of its senior staff were professional engineers, supported in financial and risk-management areas.
Corporate structure
Background In 1954, six years after nationalisation, the Government appointed the Herbert Committee to examine the efficiency and organisation of the electricity industry. The committee found that the British Electricity Authority's dual roles of electricity generation and supervision had led to central concentration of responsibility and to duplication between headquarters and divisional staff which led to delays in the commissioning of new stations. The Committee's recommendations were enacted by the Electricity Act 1957 which established the Electricity Council to oversee the industry and the CEGB with responsibility for generation and transmission.
Constitution
The CEGB was established by section 2 of the Electricity Act 1957. It consisted of a Generating Board comprising a chairman and seven to nine full-time or part-time members, appointed by the Minister of Power, who had experience or capacity in "the generation or supply of electricity, industrial, commercial or financial matters, applied science, administration, or the organisation of workers". The power of appointment later devolved to the Minister of Technology, then to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
There were six chairmen of the CEGB:
Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside, served from 1957 to 1964, Sir Stanley Brown served from 1965 to 1972, Sir Arthur Hawkins from 1972 to 1977, Glyn England from 1977 to 1982, Walter Marshall, Baron Marshall of Goring from 1982 to 1989, Gil Blackman was appointed chairman in January 1989 until 1990.
The executive comprised the chairman and the full-time board members. The Headquarters Operations Department provided a service to the board and executive and could supply specialist staff.
The chairman and two other members of the board plus the chairmen of the area boards were members of the Electricity Council.
Organisation The design, construction and development functions associated with power stations and transmission was undertaken by two divisions: the Generation Development and Construction Division based in Cheltenham and then Barnwood Gloucester, and the Transmission Development and Construction Division based in Guildford. In 1979 the Transmission Division had been restructured as the Transmission and Technical Services Division based in Guildford, and a Technology Planning and Research Division based in London, the latter was formed from the Research Division System Technical and Generation Studies Branches.
A Corporate Strategy Department was formed in 1981 from some of the Planning Department. A Nuclear Operations Support Group was also formed in 1981 to provide expert support.
The sculpture "Power in Trust" from the CEGB logo was made by Norman Sillman to represent a hand made from boiler pipes and a turbine, it was commissioned in the 1961 for the opening of Staythorpe B Power Station.
When first constituted the CEGB's London headquarters was at the former Central Electricity Authority's building in Winsley Street W1, there were also offices in Buchanan House, 24/30 Holborn, London, EC1.Trade Directory Greater London (1959)
Employees There were a total of 131,178 employees in the electricity supply industry 1989, composed as follows: +Electricity supply industry employees 1989Electricity CouncilCEGBArea boardsTotalManagerial1227805351,437Technical and scientific44413,0988,47322,015Administrative and Sales5667,14230,14637,854Industrial12526,61141,14267,878Trainees and apprentices0In Industrial1,9851,985Total1,25747,63182,291131,178
Infrastructure The CEGB spent more on industrial construction than any other organisation in the UK. In 1958, about 40 power stations were being planned or constructed at a capital cost of £800million.
Power stations Those public supply power stations that were in operation at any time between 1958 and 1990 were owned and operated by the CEGB. In 1971–1972, there were 183 power stations on 156 sites, with an installed capacity of 58,880MW, and supplied 190,525GWh. By 1981–1982 there were 108 power stations with a capacity of 55,185MW and supplied 210,289GWh.
Lists of power stations in the United Kingdom List of power stations in England List of power stations in Wales Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
National Grid At its inception the CEGB operated 2,763 circuit-km of high-tension 275kV supergrid. The growth of the high voltage National Grid over the lifetime of the CEGB is demonstrated in the following table. +Length in circuit km of 275 kV and 400 kV transmission systemYear1958196319681973197819831988275 kV, km2,7635,9235,4034,4714,4424,3034,069400 kV, km0854,9277,9059,3199,5319,822
Substations
In 1981–1982 there was a total of 203 substations operating at 275/400kV, these sub-stations included 570 transformers operating at 275/400kV.
Operations
Control of generation and the National Grid At the centre of operations was the National Control Centre of the National Grid in London, which was part of the control hierarchy for the system. The National Control Centre was based in Bankside House from 1962. There were also both area and district Grid Control Areas, which were originally at Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, St Albans, East Grinstead and Bristol. The shift control engineers who worked in these control centres would cost, schedule and load-dispatch an economic commitment of generation to the main interconnected system (the 400/275/132kV network) at an adequate level of security. They also had information about the running costs and availability of every power producing plant in England and Wales. They constantly anticipated demand, monitored and instructed power stations to increase, reduce or stop electricity production. They used the "merit order", a ranking of each generator in power stations based upon how much they cost to produce electricity. The objective was to ensure that electricity production and transmission was achieved at the lowest possible cost.
In 1981 the three-tier corporate transmission structure: National Control, area control rooms in the regions, and district control rooms (areas) was changed to a two-tier structure by merging the area and district control rooms.
Electricity supplies and sales The electricity generated, supplied and sold by the CEGB, in GWh, was as follows: +CEGB electricity supplies and salesNumbers in GWhYear1958/91963/41968/91973/41978/91983/41988/9Electricity generated91,753141,655187,064217,542238,148229,379250,699Electricity supplied86,233132,091173,418201,763222,091212,728231,909Imports5002,0162,9913,5213,2535,21416,416Exports5981,0542,0465517361763Total supplies on system86,135133,053174,363204,733224,608217,766248,322Used in transmission2,1743,7195,2164,1034,9615,2005,619Sales to direct customers3,0251,8903,0054,9375,6683,9444,260Sales to area boards80,936127,444166,142195,688213,979208,623238,443Generated by area boards1456642106Purchases by area boards from private sources3811382103343745712,010Used in distribution6,2457,9509,09311,41014,77813,66614,338Sales by area boards75,073119,634157,264184,618199,581195,570226,221 Note: imports are bulk supplies from the South of Scotland and France and from private sources, exports are bulk supplies to the South of Scotland and France.
Financial statistics A summary of the income and expenditure of the CEGB (in £ million) is as follows: +CEGB financial summaryNumbers in £ millionYear1958/91963/41968/91973/41978/91983/41988/9Income from electricity sales505.8821.51,278.41,783.55,093.09,026.311,467.8Other income14.120.325.422.830.4535.7906.0Total income519.9841.81,303.81,806.35,123.49,562.012,373.8Expenditure429.6657.5980.81,652.94,448.2Operating Profit90.3184.3323.8153.4675.2917.7777.2Interest62.5113.9222.4339.0423.8450.3159.3Profit after interest27.370.4100.6-185.6251.4464.1607.2Revenue account expenditureFuel284.1384.7707.72,379.44,008.44,268.5Salaries143.3200.9313.4750.11,454.41,992.0Depreciation138.3250.9328.0582.21,295.11,765.0Interest113.922.4339.0423.8450.3159.3Rates24.138.164.2167.5322.5496.0Other costs67.7106.2246.6568.91,563.92,715.0Total costs71.41,203.21,991.94,871.99,097.911,766.6Capital expenditureGeneration142.3229.9207.6222.2433.4766.1431.8Main transmission30.877.1118.033.761.6150.976.2Other0.93.14.210.819.421.896.6Total CEGB174.0310.1329.8266.7514.4938.8604.6Area boards83.4159.1139.1140.9198.1393.5854.5Total capital expenditure257.4469.5469.3408.2714.71,605.21,471.8
Regions Detailed control of operational matters such planning, electricity generation, transmission and maintenance were delegated to five geographical regions. From January 1971, each region had a director-general, a director of generation, a director of operational planning, a director of transmission, a financial controller, a controller of scientific services and a personnel manager.
Midlands Region Regional headquarters: Haslucks Green Road, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands.
The Midlands Region was responsible for the operation of 38 power stations, over 170 sub-stations and nearly of grid transmission line in an area that covered . The region produced more than a quarter of the electricity used in England and Wales and had a major share of the industrial construction programme mounted by the CEGB during the 1960s.
In 1948, the total generating capacity of all the power stations in the region was 2,016MW only a little more than a modern 2,000MW station. By 1957 the region's capacity was up to 4,000MW, doubling to 8,000MW by 1966 and rising to 14,000 MW in 1969 and 16,000 MW by 1971.
Previous chairmen of the Midlands Region were Arthur Hawkins, Gilbert Blackman, and R. L. Batley.CEGB Publicity Brochure dated March 1964 and January 1967
Prior to 1968 the Midlands Region was divided into the West Midlands Division and the East Midlands Division. The number of power stations, installed capacity and electricity supplied in the Midlands Region was: +Midlands RegionYearNo. of power stationsNo. of sitesInstalled capacity of generators, MWElectricity supplied, GWh1971–1972362616,256.054,509.8491980–1981261915,619.070,586.3541981–1982221714,655.571,455.615
North Eastern Region Regional Headquarters: Merrion Centre, Leeds (1971). Beckwith Knowle, Otley Road, Harrogate.