Central Electricity Generating Board

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 , at Staythorpe Power Station 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. 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. 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. Employees There were a total of 131,178 employees in the electricity supply industry 1989, composed as follows: == 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. 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. 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: 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. 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: APMS itself has since become obsolete. However, Eggborough was the last station, particularly unit 2; fully operated using APMS until its decommissioning in 2017. In contrast, PowerGen, later taken over by E.ON (which further split to form Uniper), undertook a programme to port the entire system to current hardware. The most current version of Cutlass, 'PT-Cutlass Kit 9', runs on Motorola PPC-based hardware, with the engineering workstation and administrative functions provided by a standard Microsoft Windows PC. It is fully compatible (with a few minor exceptions) with the DEC PDP-11 version (kit 1) released by PowerGen and has a high level of compatibility with the final version of kit 1 formerly used at National Power. It was used at three UK power stations: Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Cottam, and Fiddlers Ferry until their decommissioning. == Policies and strategies ==

The CEGB was subject to examination from external bodies and formed policies and strategies to meet its responsibilities. External A 1978 government white paper Re-organisation of the Electricity Supply in England and Wales proposed the creation of an Electricity Corporation to unify the fragmented structure of the industry. Parliamentary constraints prevented its enactment. In 1979, the CEGB and the National Coal Board entered a joint understanding that the CEGB would endeavour to take 75million tonnes of coal per year to 1985 provided the pithead price did not increase above the rate of inflation. In 1981, the CEGB applied for planning consent to build a 1,200MW pressurised water reactor at Sizewell. There was a lengthy public inquiry. In 1981, the CEGB introduced another accelerated power station closure programme. On 26 October, 16 power stations were closed with a combined capacity of 3,402MW. A further 1,320MW of capacity was maintained unmanned in reserve. ==Privatisation==

The electricity market in the UK was built upon the break-up of the CEGB into four companies in the 1990s. Its generation (or upstream) activities were transferred to three generating companies, 'PowerGen', 'National Power', and 'Nuclear Electric' (later 'British Energy', eventually 'EDF Energy'); and its transmission (or downstream) activities to the 'National Grid Company'. The shares in National Grid were distributed to the regional electricity companies prior to their own privatisation in 1990. PowerGen and National Power were privatised in 1991, with 60% stakes in each company sold to investors, the remaining 40% being held by the UK government. The privatisation process was initially delayed as it was concluded that the 'earlier decided nuclear power plant assets in National Power' would not be included in the private National Power. A new company was formed, Nuclear Electric, which would eventually own and operate the nuclear power assets, and the nuclear power stations were held in public ownership for a number of years. In 1995, the government sold its 40% stakes, and the assets of Nuclear Electric and Scottish Nuclear were both combined and split. The combination process merged operations of UK's eight most advanced nuclear plants – seven advanced gas-cooled reactor(AGR) and one pressurised water reactor (PWR) – into a new private company founded in 1996, 'British Energy' (now 'EDF Energy'). The splitting process created a separate company in 1996 called 'Magnox Electric' to hold the older Magnox reactors, later combined with BNFL. Although electricity privatisation began in 1990, the CEGB continued to exist until the '''''' (SI 2001/3421), a statutory instrument, came into force on 9 November 2001. Powergen is now E.ON UK, owned by the German utility company E.ON, who then further split to form Uniper, who own the majority of the former E.On conventional power generation. National Power split into a UK business, 'Innogy', now 'RWE npower', owned by the German utility company RWE, and an international business, 'International Power', now Engie Energy International and owned by the French company Engie. ==Arms==

{{Infobox COA wide == Publications ==

• Nuclear Know-How! – with an element of truth. Published by the Central Electricity Generating Board Publicity Services – South East, Bankside House, Sumner Street, London SE1 9JU (n.d. but published c. 1980s–1990s). 20 pages. • Central Electricity Generating Board, Annual Report and Accounts (published annually). • Central Electricity Generating Board, Statistical Yearbook (published annually). • H.R. Johnson et al., The Mechanism of Corrosion by Fuel Impurities (Central Electricity Generating Board; Marchwood Engineering Laboratories, 1963). • Central Electricity Research Laboratories, Symposium on chimney plume rise and dispersion, Atmospheric Environment (1967) 1, 351–440. • Central Electricity Generating Board, Modern Power Station Practice, 5 volumes (Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1971). • Central Electricity Generating Board, How Electricity Is Made and Transmitted (CEGB, London, 1972). • Central Electricity Generating Board, Submission to the Commission on Energy and the Environment (CEGB, London 1981). • Central Electricity Generating Board, Acid Rain (London, CEGB, 1984). • Central Electricity Generating Board, Achievements in technology, planning and research (CEGB, London, 1985). • Central Electricity Generating Board, Advances in Power Station Construction (Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1986). • Central Electricity Generating Board, European Year of the Environment: the CEGB Achievements (CEGB, London, 1986). • Central Electricity Generating Board, Drax Power Station, Proposed Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plant (London, CEGB, 1988). ==See also==