ABSTRACT

Post-war Britain, like most of the countries of the western world, has been conscious of the enormous social and industrial benefits to be obtained from a cheap and coordinated supply of electrical power. The eventual planning of electricity supply was facilitated by Parliamentary provision for electric power companies in 1898 and 1899. In short, the period of regulation prior to 1919 was characterized by parochialism in distribution and very small beginnings toward large units of generation and transmission. Parliament's policy aimed at protecting vested interests and historical regions rather than at the greatest efficiency to be obtained from the coordination of regional power zones into a national plan. The Electricity Commission combines the power to issue orders and establish policies with the duty to hold hearings and to decide controversies. At one time it acts as a planning body, at another it serves in a judicial capacity.