Central Electricity Generating Board

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.

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

thumb|Power in Trust (1961) by [[Norman Sillman, 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:

thumb|CEGB "Griffin" crestChristopher 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:

{| class="wikitable"

|+CEGB electricity supplies and sales

! rowspan="2" |Numbers in GWh

! colspan="7" |Year

!1958/9

!1963/4

!1968/9

!1973/4

!1978/9

!1983/4

!1988/9

|Electricity generated

|91,753

|141,655

|187,064

|217,542

|238,148

|229,379

|250,699

|Electricity supplied

|86,233

|132,091

|173,418

|201,763

|222,091

|212,728

|231,909

|Imports

|500

|2,016

|2,991

|3,521

|3,253

|5,214

|16,416

|Exports

|598

|1,054

|2,046

|551

|736

|176

|Total supplies on system

|86,135

|133,053

|174,363

|204,733

|224,608

|217,766

|248,322

|Used in transmission

|2,174

|3,719

|5,216

|4,103

|4,961

|5,200

|5,619

|Sales to direct customers

|3,025

|1,890

|3,005

|4,937

|5,668

|3,944

|4,260

|Sales to area boards

|80,936

|127,444

|166,142

|195,688

|213,979

|208,623

|238,443

|Generated by area boards

|42

|106

|Purchases by area boards from private sources

|381

|138

|210

|334

|374

|571

|2,010

|Used in distribution

|6,245

|7,950

|9,093

|11,410

|14,778

|13,666

|14,338

|Sales by area boards

|75,073

|119,634

|157,264

|184,618

|199,581

|195,570

|226,221

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:

{| class="wikitable"

|+CEGB financial summary

! rowspan="2" |Numbers in £ million

! colspan="7" |Year

!1958/9

!1963/4

!1968/9

!1973/4

!1978/9

!1983/4

!1988/9

|Income from electricity sales

|505.8

|821.5

|1,278.4

|1,783.5

|5,093.0

|9,026.3

|11,467.8

|Other income

|14.1

|20.3

|25.4

|22.8

|30.4

|535.7

|906.0

|Total income

|519.9

|841.8

|1,303.8

|1,806.3

|5,123.4

|9,562.0

|12,373.8

|Expenditure

|429.6

|657.5

|980.8

|1,652.9

|4,448.2

|Operating Profit

|90.3

|184.3

|323.8

|153.4

|675.2

|917.7

|777.2

|Interest

|62.5

|113.9

|222.4

|339.0

|423.8

|450.3

|159.3

|Profit after interest

|27.3

|70.4

|100.6

|<nowiki>-185.6</nowiki>

|251.4

|464.1

|607.2

! colspan="8" |Revenue account expenditure

|Fuel

|284.1

|384.7

|707.7

|2,379.4

|4,008.4

|4,268.5

|Salaries

|143.3

|200.9

|313.4

|750.1

|1,454.4

|1,992.0

|Depreciation

|138.3

|250.9

|328.0

|582.2

|1,295.1

|1,765.0

|Interest

|113.9

|22.4

|339.0

|423.8

|450.3

|159.3

|Rates

|24.1

|38.1

|64.2

|167.5

|322.5

|496.0

|Other costs

|67.7

|106.2

|246.6

|568.9

|1,563.9

|2,715.0

|Total costs

|71.4

|1,203.2

|1,991.9

|4,871.9

|9,097.9

|11,766.6

! colspan="8" |Capital expenditure

|Generation

|142.3

|229.9

|207.6

|222.2

|433.4

|766.1

|431.8

|Main transmission

|30.8

|77.1

|118.0

|33.7

|61.6

|150.9

|76.2

|Other

|0.9

|3.1

|4.2

|10.8

|19.4

|21.8

|96.6

|Total CEGB

|174.0

|310.1

|329.8

|266.7

|514.4

|938.8

|604.6

|Area boards

|83.4

|159.1

|139.1

|140.9

|198.1

|393.5

|854.5

|Total capital expenditure

|257.4

|469.5

|469.3

|408.2

|714.7

|1,605.2

|1,471.8

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.

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.

|escutcheon = Paly gules and Or two bars dancetty the upper per pale Sable and Argent the lower per pale Argent and Sable.

|crest = On a wreath Or Gules and Sable a male griffin segreant Gules armed langued and rayed Or behind the head a sun in splendour Gold.

|supporters = On the dexter side a lion guardant Or winged Gules and on the sinister side a dragon Gules winged Or.

|motto = Power In Trust

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).