Central Electricity Generating Board
Type	Defunct
Founded	1947
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Industry	Energy
Broken up into National Grid Company, National Power, Powergen and Nuclear Electric

The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was the cornerstone of the British electricity industry for almost 50 years, from its nationalisation in 1947 to privatisation in the 1990s. Image File history File links CEGB.png Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For the mapping grid, see the British national grid reference system. ... In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ... Powergen was an electric generating company in the United Kingdom. ... Nuclear Electric was formed as a result of the privisation of the UK Electricity Supply Industry. ... Nationalization is the act of taking assets into state ownership. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or — especially in India — disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership. ...

Under the nationalised structure the CEGB was responsible for electricity generation 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 South of Scotland Electricity Board, was formed as a result of the Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act 1954. ... The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board (1943 - 1990) was founded to design, construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the Highlands of Scotland. ...

The organisation was unusual in that most of its senior staff were professional engineers (see Cochrane's monograph), but with excellent support in financial and queef-management areas.

Some people feel that it represented the best of Government planning, others feel that it had become a monolith that exemplified the worst aspects of central planning, and was ripe for reform. It is probably the case that, in its most successful period, up until the mid 1970s, it was managed in a way broadly comparable to large private-sector energy majors such as BP, but that it was late to respond to the changed pattern of energy growth following the second oil crisis. This box:      A planned economy is an economic system in which a single agency makes all decisions about the production and allocation of goods and services. ... BP plc (LSE: BP, NYSE: BP, TYO: 5051 ), originally British Petroleum, is a British energy company with headquarters in London, one of six vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas, and petrol (gasoline) supermajors in the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The CEGB was created from the Central Electricity Authority (formerly the British Electricity Authority) in 1957. At the centre of the infrastructure was the central control room of the National Grid. The engineers who worked there had information about the running costs and availability of every power producing plant in England and Wales. Here they would constantly anticipate demand, monitor and instruct power station managers to produce electricity, or stop producing electricity, by reference to what was known as the "merit order". The objective was to ensure that output was always achieved at the lowest possible cost. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) (at first, for a brief period, known as the British Electricity Authority or BEA) was the body that ran the UKs newly nationalised electricity supply industry from 1947. ... The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established in 1948 with the nationalisation of the UKs electricity supply industry, as a result of the Electricity Act 1947. ... The National Grid is the high-voltage electric power transmission network in Great Britain, connecting power stations and major substations and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere in Great Britain can be used to satisfy demand elsewhere. ... Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... Oil power plant in Iraq A power station or power plant is a facility for the generation of electric power. ...

The CEGB had an extensive R&D section with its three principal laboratories at Leatherhead (Central Electricity Research Laboratory, CERL), Marchwood Engineering Laboratory (MEL) and Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories (BNL). There were also five regional facilities. The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of scientific research and technological development. ... Statistics Population: 9,685[1] Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TQ1656 Administration District: Mole Valley D.C. Shire county: Surrey Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Surrey Historic county: Surrey Services Police force: Surrey Police Fire and rescue: Surrey Fire and Rescue... St. ... Location within the British Isles. ...

Although electricity privatisation began in 1990, the CEGB continued to exist until The Central Electricity Generating Board (Dissolution) Order 2001, a Statutory Instrument, came into force on 9 November 2001. Statutory Instruments (SIs) are parts of United Kingdom law separate from Acts of Parliament which do not require full Parliamentary approval before becoming law. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2001. ...

The present electricity market in the UK was built upon the breakup of the CEGB into three generating companies and the National Grid Company. The three generating companies were Powergen, National Power and Nuclear Electric. The first two were privatised in the early 1990s and the latter was held in public ownership for several years before combining with Scottish Nuclear and privatised as British Energy. A proportion of the CEGB's nuclear fleet, its older Magnox reactors, remained in public ownership as Magnox Electric, and were later combined with BNFL. An electricity market is a system for effecting the purchase and sale of electricity using supply and demand to set the price. ... For the mapping grid, see the British national grid reference system. ... Powergen was an electric generating company in the United Kingdom. ... In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ... Nuclear Electric was formed as a result of the privisation of the UK Electricity Supply Industry. ... British Energy plc, is the United Kingdoms primary nuclear power producer, operating seven Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR) stations, one Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) site and one coal fired power plant. ... Schematic diagram of a Magnox nuclear reactor showing gas flow. ... British Nuclear Fuels plc or BNFL manufactures and transports nuclear fuel (notably MOX), runs reactors, generates and sells electricity, reprocesses and manages spent fuel (mainly at Sellafield), and decommissions nuclear plants and other similar facilities. ...

Powergen is now owned by the German utility company E.ON. National Power split into a UK business, Innogy, now owned by the German utility company RWE, and an international business, International Power. It has been suggested that VEBA be merged into this article or section. ... RWE AG, until 1990 named Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG, is a German public utility and electric power company based in Essen. ... International Power plc is a leading independent electricity generating company with 16,642 MW (net) in operation and 1,729 MW (net) under construction. ...

See also

• Timeline of the UK electricity supply industry
• Energy policy of the United Kingdom
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom

The electricity supply industry in the United Kingdom began in the late 1870s originally for the purpose of providing street lighting. ... Energy policy of the United Kingdom is a set of official publications and activities directed at the present and future production, transmission and use of various power technologies. ... For Government policy, see Energy policy of the United Kingdom Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom has been receiving increased attention over recent years. ...

References

1. The CEGB Story by Rob Cochrane (with additional research by Maryanna Schaefer), CEGB (1990)
2. The Central Electricity Generating Board (Dissolution) Order 2001 full text.