The London Power Company was an electricity generating and bulk supply company in London, England, formed in 1925 by the merger of ten small electricity companies. In 1948 Britain's electricity supply industry was nationalised under the Electricity Act 1947 and the company was absorbed into the British Electricity Authority.
Legislation
The London Power Company originated in the London Electricity Joint Committee (1920) Limited, established in January 1920, which aimed to secure cooperation between London's electricity companies. The company promoted the London Electricity (No.2) Act 1925 which empowered electricity companies to amalgamate. It also regulated their dividends, required funds to be set up to transfer the companies' assets to the London and Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority, required companies to notify the authority of any proposal to spend capital exceeding £5,000, to dispose of any electricity generated in excess of that obligated to customers, and to carry out the technical integration scheme for the district.
Constituent companies
The constituent electricity undertakings of the London Power Company were:
Brompton and Kensington Electricity Supply Company Limited
Central Electric Supply Company Limited
Charing Cross Electricity Supply Company Limited
Chelsea Electricity Supply Company Limited
Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric Lighting Company Limited
London Electric Supply Corporation Limited
Metropolitan Electric Supply Company Limited
Notting Hill Electric Lighting Company Limited
St James' and Pall Mall Electric Light Company Limited
Westminster Electric Supply Corporation Limited
Power stations
Local power stations
The London Power Company's ten constituent companies had many local, generally small-scale, power stations. The table demonstrates the range of power station sizes, supply voltages and electrical current systems of the constituent companies in 1919 prior to the formation of the London Power Company.
The constituent companies had generated in total 190.657 GWh (in 1923), 215.953 GWh (1924) and 263.113 GWh (1925).
LPC power stations
The London Power Company closed the least efficient power stations of its constituent companies and purchased or leased the rest, then built new stations. Electricity was sold to the constituent companies for distribution and sale.
Construction of Deptford West Power Station for the London Power Company started in 1925 and was completed in 1929. It had two 30 MW, three 35 MW and one 50 MW generating sets, a total installed capacity of 222 MW. It provided electricity to Central and East London.
Construction of Battersea A Power Station was started in 1929 and completed in 1934; supplying electricity to Central and West London, it had an installed capacity of 251.7 MW. The Second World War delayed the start of construction of Battersea B Power Station until 1945 and it was not completed until 1955, seven years after nationalisation. Battersea B had a final installed capacity of 260 MW.
The LPC's principal power stations were Deptford West, Battersea and Willesden. In addition electricity was available from Bow, Grove Road and Deptford East.
Closed power stations
The following power stations were closed by the LPC on the dates shown:
Alpha Place 1928
Amberley Road 1926
Horseferry Road 1927
Richmond Road 1928
Wood Lane 1928
Operations
During 1931 the company spent £2 million on Battersea power station and interconnecting mains, including 66kV transmission mains between Deptford and Battersea and between Battersea and Willesden. The London Power Company generated 941.77 GWh of AC electricity. It also supplied direct current from Bow power station (built by the London Electric Supply Co.) which generated 3.72 GWh of DC power that year. The total cost of operations had fallen from 0.5888 d./kWh in 1930 to 0.5608 d./kWh in 1931.
The Central Electric Supply Company was legally dissolved in October 1932, as its functions to supply electricity in bulk to the St. James and Westminster companies had been subsumed by the London Power Company.