ABSTRACT
England not only pioneered industrialisation, but also set up an effective energy supply system at a relatively early period. By the mid-nineteenth century almost all local authorities with a population of over 2,500 had access to gas supplies.2 The construction of electricity supply also began relatively early. After it became clear at both the International and the World Exhibitions in Paris in 1878 and 18813 that electricity had more advantages than gas – it was easier to handle and transport, it was safer and could be used in many more ways – this new form of energy began to be used in 1878 in London for lighting a theatre, a promenade along the Thames and a fish market, as well as in an ironworks in nearby Shoreditch. The first public electricity power stations went into operation in 1881 in small towns in Derbyshire and Surrey.4 The subsequent, rapid growth of electricity consumption in factories, theatres, cafés, department stores and public buildings demonstrated that its advantages were reckoned to far outweigh the fact that it was more expensive.
