Southern Electric plc
TypePublic
Founded1990
Defunct1998
FateAcquired
SuccessorScottish and Southern Energy
HeadquartersReading, UK
ProductsGas and electricity

Southern Electric plc was a public limited energy company in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998, when it merged with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc to form Scottish and Southern Energy plc (now SSE plc). The company had its origins in the southern England region of the British nationalised electricity industry. Created in 1948 as the Southern Electricity Board, in 1990 it was privatised by being floated on the London Stock Exchange.

History

The company originated as the Southern Electricity Board, created in 1948 as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Electricity Act 1947. The board's assets passed in 1990 to Southern Electric plc, one of the fourteen public electricity suppliers, and that company was privatised in the same year. In 1998 the company merged with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc and became part of Scottish and Southern Energy.[1]

Post-merger logo

SSE used the "Southern Electric" name and logo for a time as a brand name for retail distribution of gas and electricity in the south of England, before replacing it with SSE branding. Following the purchase of SSE's retail business by OVO Energy in 2020, the Southern Electric brand is a trading name of OVO Electricity Limited.[2]

Southern Electricity Board

The key people on the board were: Chairman Henry Nimmo (1948–54),[3] Chairman R.R.B. Brown (1964, 1967), Deputy Chairman W.B. Poulter (1964, 1967), full-time member A. W. Bunch (1967).[4]

The number of customers supplied by the board was:[5][6]

Customers supplied by the Southern Electricity Board
Year 1948/9 1960/1 1965/6 1970/1 1975/6 1978/9 1980/1 1985/6 1987/8 1988/9
No. of customers, 1000s 876 1429 1616 1829 1993 2095 2150 2312 2386 2424

The amount of electricity, in GWh, sold by the Southern Electricity Board over its operational life was:[5][6]

Operations

The Southern Electric name continues to be used by SSE's subsidiary Southern Electric Power Distribution plc,[7] the distribution network operator in the south of England.

In April 2013 the UK electricity market regulator OFGEM fined Southern Electric £10.5 million for breaches of conduct in relation to mis-selling, from the top of the business down.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Two electric suppliers in Britain to merge. New York Times. 2 September 1998.
  2. ↑ "Trading names". SSE. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  3. ↑ "Obituary Henry Nimmo (p. 10)". The Times. 26 October 1954.
  4. ↑ The Electricity Council publicity brochures 1964 and 1967
  5. 1 2 The Electricity Council (1980). Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1979. London: The Electricity Council. pp. 58 63. ISBN 0851880762.
  6. 1 2 The Electricity Council (1990). Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1989. London: The Electricity Council. pp. 51 56. ISBN 085188122X.
  7. ↑ "Southern Electric Power Distribution plc". Companies House. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  8. ↑ Ofgem fines SSE £10.5m for mis-selling
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