South London Electric Supply Corporation

South London Electric Supply Corporation Limited
Company type	Private company
Industry	Electricity supply
Founded	4 December 1896
Defunct	March 1948
Fate	Nationalised under the Electricity Act 1947
Headquarters	Loughborough Junction, London, United Kingdom
Products	Electricity generation and supply

The South London Electric Supply Corporation Limited was a British company formed in 1896 with the purpose of delivering electricity to the parish, which later became the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth, located in south London. It owned and managed a power station at Loughborough Junction and, beginning in 1925, partnered with three other London-based companies to consolidate electricity generation at the highly efficient Barking power station. The corporation's activities ended in March 1948 following the nationalisation of the UK's electricity sector.

Background

Incorporated on 4 December 1896, the South London Electric Supply Corporation assumed responsibility for electricity provision from the Lambeth Vestry (which later evolved into the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth) in 1897. The vestry had been granted a provisional order by the Board of Trade in 1892 under the Lambeth Electric Lighting Order 1892, ratified by Parliament that same year, authorizing electricity supply within Lambeth. The service area encompassed nearly all of Lambeth except for small portions in the north and south as well as the detached Streatham parish.

The company was authorized capitalized at £325,000, divided into 65,000 shares valued at £5 each, with 594 shareholders recorded in 1898. It developed a power generating facility on Bengeworth Road at Loughborough Junction within Lambeth and established a high-voltage distribution system. As part of its arrangement with the vestry, it incinerated refuse at a rate of 11½d per ton and provided power for 25 street lamps free of charge. Electricity distribution began in November 1899.

Management Board

In 1898, the board of directors consisted of:

G. Ellis
B. Fitch
E. Ironside Bax
Algenon Turnor
W. W. Phipps

The company’s administrative offices were situated on Bengeworth Road, Loughborough Junction, London.

Power station

At its inception, the generating plant operated on dual fuel sources: refuse supplied by Lambeth Vestry and coal, using eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers each rated at 10,000 lb/hr for steam production.

1 × Ferranti vertical cross compound engine coupled to a 1,200 kW Ferranti alternator
1 × Ferranti vertical cross compound engine coupled to a 1,000 kW Ferranti alternator
1 × Yates & Thom vertical cross compound engine coupled to a 500 kW British Thomson-Houston alternator
2 × Ferranti vertical cross compound engines each driving a 300 kW Ferranti alternator

Electricity was generated at 3,000 Volts and 50 Hz frequency for transmission purposes.

By 1923, the Loughborough Junction facility included:

Boilers:
- Coal-fired units producing steam at a rate of 130,000 lb/h (16.4 kg/s) feeding:
Generators:
- 1 × reciprocating engine rated at 250 kW (AC)
- 2 × reciprocating engines each rated at 900 kW (AC)
- 1 × reciprocating engine rated at 500 kW (AC)
- 1 × reciprocating engine rated at 800 kW (AC)
- 1 × turbo-alternator rated at 1,500 kW (AC)
- 1 × turbo-alternator rated at 2,500 kW (AC)

The total installed capacity amounted to 7,350 kW.

The station featured a single chimney and supplied power as:

Two-phase AC at 50 Hz with voltage of 220 Volts
Single-phase AC at 50 Hz with voltage of 220 Volts

Operational data

Presented below is a summary table detailing the corporation’s expansion in plant capacity, peak load demand, electricity production and sales, customer numbers, connected load, and load factor from the years 1901 through to 1936:

1922 1923 7,000 7,168 9,000 10,533 6,600 21,300 20.5 1931 0 1933 0 0 36,057 1934 0 0 41,944 1935 0 0 46,105 1936 0 22,717 0 55,810 33,474 79,126 31.8

South London Corporation operating data, 1901–1936
Year	Plant capacity (kW)	Peak load (kW)	Electricity generated (MWh)	Electricity sold (MWh)	Customer count	Connected load (kW)	Load factor (%)
1901	3,300			222
1902				1,093
1903	6,000	3,086	5,478	1,453	1,450		28.18
1904				1,786
1905				1,871
1906				2,110
1907			3,413	2,890
1908			4,062	3,250
1909			4,727	3,705		7,364
1913	7,000	3,130	6,318	5,000	2,794	9,600	18.2
1919	7,000	5,102	7,699	7,565	4,365	17,050	16.9
1921		6,000	8,016	8,597		18,300	20.7
6,448 8,036 8,931	19,700 19.6
0 33,904

Throughout this timeframe there was substantial growth in electricity sales measured in megawatt-hours.

The dust destructor unit was taken out of service in 1900 due to complaints about fumes causing local disturbances.

Electricity consumption

Initially, electricity was primarily utilized for lighting, but its applications soon broadened to include power uses. The following table illustrates the changes in electricity consumption (measured in MWh) from 1921 through 1936:

Electricity end-use, 1921–1936, MWh
Category, MWh	Year
Category, MWh	1921	1922	1923	1924	1931	1936
Public lighting	112	88	129	88	187	5,955
Domestic supply	3,184	3,661	4,529	11,940	33,719	30,480
Power and heat	5,301	5,182	5,875	11,940	33,719	24,734
Traction	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bulk supply	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	8,597	8,931	10,533	12,028	33,904	55,810

Financial overview

Capital required for the company's foundation and ongoing operations was secured through share issues aimed at financing land purchases, infrastructure development, machinery acquisition, and legal fees.

Between 1901 and 1908, South London Corporation experienced a steady rise in income from customers as well as profits before interest:

South London Corporation revenue and profits before interest, 1901–1908 (£)
Year	Income from consumers (£)	Profits before interest (£)
1901	17,571	1,691
1902	20,445	7,366
1903	25,720	18,936
1904	29,230	31,347
1905	28,210	30,134
1906	28,934	18,046
1907	33,992	15,040
1908	36,500	18,000

Periodic share offerings were made; notably in 1908 a £100,000 issue with a five percent dividend was launched to support company growth.

From 1913 through 1936 revenue and profits saw substantial increases:

South London Corporation revenue and profits (£), selected years 1913–1936
Year	Revenue	Expenditure	Profit
1913	48,880	18,697	26,633
1919	92,271	47,440	40,709
1922	127,182	71,732	60,162
1923	154,910	67,581	92,352
1936	355,529	232,629	122,900

To meet growing demand during 1907 to 1919 significant investments were made in plant and equipment:

Year	1907 !1908 !1909 !1910 !1911 !1912
Capital expenditure (£)	18,709 !10,070 !9,272 !17,030 !11,514 !20,065
Year	1914 !1915 !1916 !1917 !1918 !1919
Capital expenditure (£)	13,169 !7,512 !5,555 !14,690 !8,665 !10,355

Throughout its operation period consistent dividends were distributed to shareholders. Dividend yields as a proportion of capital raised generally aligned with the average of London electricity providers at approximately 5% between 1900 and 1919:

Year	1900 !1901 !1902 !1903 !1904 !1905 !1906 !1907 !1908 !1909
Dividend %	0 !0 !1.75 !3.00 !4.38 !4.13 !3.27 !3.89 !5.0 !5.0
Average Dividend %	4.60 !5.29 !5.55 !5.51 !5.79 !5.65 !5.40 !5.14 !5.12 !5.07
Year	1910 !1911 !1912 !1913 !1914 !1915 !1916 !1917 !1918 !1919
Dividend %	5.0 !5.0 !5.36 !5.42 !5.15 !5.07 !5.07 !5.07 !5.07 !5.69
Average Dividend %	5.07 !5.11 !5.18 !5.33 !5.10 !4.87 !4.68 !5.32 !4.96 !5.76

Collaborative Operations

The South London Corporation joined forces with three other entities—the City of London Electric Lighting Company, County of London Electric Supply Company Limited, South London Electric Supply Corporation Limited, and South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Company Limited—to advocate for the London Electricity (No. 1) Act 1925 (14 & 15 Geo. 5. c. lxii). They established a joint committee to synchronize the functioning of their power generation facilities while maintaining their independence as distinct district electricity providers connected via cable networks. Facilities such as Barking Power Station were anticipated to fulfill their collective electricity demand. The legislation sought to balance the interests of investors and consumers by restricting annual dividends to 7% and limiting the accumulation of retained profits; any surplus earnings were redirected to customers through reduced pricing.

In 1925, the County of London Company commissioned the 118.75 MW Barking A power station, followed by the larger 303.5 MW Barking B station in 1933.

The Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5. c. 51) led to the creation of the Central Electricity Board (CEB), which designated efficient ‘selected’ generating stations and developed the national grid between 1927 and 1933 to link regional plants. These connections facilitated large-scale electricity transfers; as a result, in 1929, South London Corporation shut down its Bengeworth Road power station and began sourcing electricity (38,593 MWh in 1931) from the CEB.

Nationalisation

The British electricity supply sector underwent nationalisation in 1948 under the provisions of the Electricity Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54). Consequently, the South London Electric Supply Corporation was dissolved; ownership of major supply substations and transmission infrastructure transferred to the British Electricity Authority, which was later succeeded by the Central Electricity Authority and then the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). Responsibilities for distribution and retail sales were assigned to the newly formed London Electricity Board (LEB).

References