Britain: An official handbook > 1956

INDUSTRY
173
Refineries
Up to 1939 three-quarters of the United Kingdom’s supply of petroleum products
was refined overseas, in accordance with the view, commonly held in the world oil
industry at that time, that it was more economical to refine at the source of produc¬
tion. Since the second world war, however, the industry has come to favour the
siting of refineries in the consuming areas. In this it has had Govermnent support,
both because of the need to save foreign exchange and because of the extra employ¬
ment and other advantages to the economy resulting from the new development.
The expansion programme in the United Kingdom carried out by the major oil
companies was a substantial one, costing over the years 1947 to 1954 very nearly
£200 million.
At the end of 1954 refinery capacity in the United Kingdom amounted to almost
29 million tons per annum; actual production of refined products rose from about
5 million tons in 1948-49 to 25 -6 million tons in 1954. Exports of refined products
became possible, and their value reached over million in 1954, while in the
same year imports of refined products were valued at £87 million compared with
£141 million in 1951.
ELECTRICITY SUPPLY
Public supply of electricity was first provided at Godaiming, Surrey, in 1881,
though there were earlier demonstrations of its use to consumers such as the
former Metropolitan Board of Works in the lighting of the Thames Embankment.
From the earliest days a measure of public control has been a feature of the industry,
and the Electric Lighting Act of 1882 authorized the Board of Trade to grant
licences for the establishment of electricity undertakings by local authorities or by
companies (which the local authorities might compulsorily purchase after a given
period of time) to supply consumers in given areas. By the turn of the century
technical developments, including the introduction of the electric motor as a source
of motive power, had led to a large increase in the scale of distribution of electricity,
and a variety of independent supply systems had grown up all over the country.
It was not until after the first world war that steps were taken to reorganize the
industry on a national scale in order to realize the benefits of concentration, inte¬
gration and standardization in electricity supply. In 1919 the Electricity Com¬
missioners were set up as a supervisory body and to promote reorganization through
voluntary agreement. Then in 1926 the Central Electricity Board was established
to co-ordinate more efficiently the generation of electricity. Its main duties were to
concentrate the output of electricity in certain stations, selected for their efficiency
and low operating costs and to connect these selected stations with one another and
to local distribution undertakings by means of a national system of main trans¬
mission lines, known as the Grid. Thenceforward steady progress was made in
putting this plan into effect and, by March 1948, 143 selected stations, out of some
300, were supplying 95 per cent of the electricity generated for public supply.
Organization under Public Ownership
With the exception of a few small non-statutory undertakings accounting for less
than one per cent of the electricity consumption, the public supply of electricity in
Great Britain is now exclusively in the hands of public corporations: in England
and Wales the Central Electricity Authority is responsible for generation and
12 Area Boards for distribution; and in Scotland the North of Scotland Hydro-
Electric Board and the South of Scotland Electricity Board are each responsible for
generation and distribution in their respective areas. In Northern Ireland, elec¬
tricity is supplied by two municipal undertakings and one public board.