Charing Cross and Strand Electricity Supply Corporation

To extend supplies more widely in the area the Electric Supply Corporation was registered as an electricity undertaking on 12 June 1889 with statutory authority to supply electricity to parts of Holborn and Westminster.[3] These areas were: the southern part of Holborn Metropolitan Borough except Lincoln's Inn and Staple Inn; the Strand district and the parish of St. Martin in the Fields in the City of Westminster.[5] The Metropolitan Electric Supply Company Limited objected to the new undertaking as it already supplied the Strand district with electricity. The Charing Cross Company argued that it would provide low-tension current that would be an advantage for motive power over the high-tension supply from the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company.[6] The Gatti brothers were directors and shareholders of the new company.[7] The Electric Supply Corporation took over the ownership and operation of the Maiden Lane station, and soon after changed the company name to the Charing Cross and Strand Electricity Supply Corporation Limited. Further increases in demand were met by several extensions to the Maiden Lane station from 1892.[4]

To supplement electricity supplies the Charing Cross Company built a new power station in 1896 at 85 Commercial Road, Lambeth on the south of the River Thames. Electricity was transferred across the river through ducts in Hungerford and Waterloo Bridges.[4] The plant at Commercial Road had a capacity of 3,600 kW and operated at 1,000 V. The voltage was reduced to 200 V for distribution to customers by motor–generator sets located in local substations on the north side of the river.[4] These substations were located at Maiden Lane; Short's Gardens, Drury Lane; and St. Martins Lane.[7]

In 1897 the plant had a generating capacity of 2,575 kW and the maximum load was 1,377 kW. A total of 2615.51 MWh of electricity was sold to 719 customers which powered 107,542 lamps, this provided an income to the company of £48,026-16-6d. The growth of the undertaking is demonstrated in the table.[8]

In 1899 the company sought and received authority under The City of London Electric Lighting Act 1900 to supply electricity to the City of London. This supply was in competition with City of London Electric Lighting Company.[5] One of the conditions of the Act was that the company would provide, within two years, a power station to supply the City with electricity.[7] Such an arrangement would allow the City Corporation to purchase a complete electricity supply system.[9] Accordingly, a new station was constructed at Bow in the Borough of West Ham, about 4 miles north east of Charing Cross. A separate operating undertaking within the Charing Cross Company was established to manage this supply.

Bow power station (51°32'03"N 0°00'43"W) was built on a 7½ acre (3.04 ha) site in Marshgate Road, Bow, and was first commissioned in 1902.[4] It generated 3-phase alternating current at 10 kV and 50 Hz.[10] It was the first 3-phase plant in the UK.[4] Initially the equipment comprised two 800 kW and two 1600 kW Lahmeyer generating sets.[2] The 800 kW sets were driven by Bellis and Morcom high speed engines, and the 1600 kW sets by Sulzer Bros. engines.[11] The boilers were manufactured by Richard Hornsby. In 1904–5 a pair of 4 MW generators were added, these were then the largest generating machines in the country. They were driven by Sulzer three cylinder compound engines. Steam was from a pair of Hornsby vertical boilers with an output capacity of 140,000 lb/h (17.6 kg/s) at 160 psi (11.0 bar) for each 4 MW set.[11] Steam from the engines discharged into jet-condensers and cooling was by 16 fan driven circular steel cooling towers, 30 ft (11 m) in diameter and 85 ft (26 m) high.[2][12] Coal was delivered to the power station by the River Lea and its channels.

The station transmitted electricity at 10 kV through underground cables through the districts of Poplar, Mile End and Whitechapel to four substations in the City and West End each with an 8.4 MW motor-generator. These were at Fenchurch Street, Upper Thames Street, Ludgate Hill and Beech Street.[7] The 350 kW synchronous generators giving 400–440 V across the outer wires, supply was eventually 2 × 200 V on a three-wire system.[11]

Following the First World War the reciprocating engines at Bow were gradually replaced with more efficient steam turbines.[2] New Babcock and Wilcox boilers supplied steam at 270 psi (18.6 bar) and 650 °F (343 °C).[2]

The company changed its name in February 1905 to the Charing Cross, West End and City Electricity Supply Company Limited to reflect its enlarged supply area in the City.

As new generating plant was commissioned so older and less efficient plant was retired: the advent of Bow power station led to the eventual closure of the Lambeth station by 1909.[4]

It was reported in 1910 that the City of Westminster had transferred electric street lighting, comprising 66 arc lamps run by the St. James Electric Light Company, to a gas company for conversion back to gas lighting.[13] The usual pattern at this period was the substitution of electricity in place of gas for street lighting. The Charing Cross Company confirmed they continued to operate 165 arc lamps in the City of Westminster.[13]

A summary of operating data for the Charing Cross Company from 1903 to 1936 is as follows:[5][14][15][16][17]

From the early 1920s interconnections between electricity undertakings enabled bulk supplies of electricity to be sold and purchased. For example, in 1923 the West End undertaking, in addition to its 2.6 MW generating capacity, had 10.7 MW of transformer capability enabling electricity to be imported.[16]

In 1923 the generating plant comprised the following.[18] At Bow there were 2 × 3.0 MW, 2 × 5.0 MW and 1 × 2.5 MW turbo generators, plus 2 × 4.0 MW reciprocating generators giving a total capacity of 36.52 MW. The maximum load on the system was 23,164 MW. These machines were supplied by boilers with a total steam output capacity of 575,000 lb/hr (72.45 kg/s). At St. Martins Lane there were 2 × 450 kV oil driven generators providing a DC supply, and at Shorts Gardens there were 4 × 450 kW and 2 × 530 kW oil driven generators also providing a DC supply.[18]

In 1928 the company installed new substations in Soho Square (1500 kW) and Aldwych (3000 kW), and a new 1200 kW diesel engine at Shorts Gardens.[19] The substation at Shorts Gardens was housed in a 3-storey red brick building (extant 2020) numbered 62–72 Shorts Gardens at the northeast end of Shorts Gardens near Drury Lane.[20]

It was noted in 1931 that major rebuilding work in the City and the West End particularly the construction of substantially larger buildings provided with ‘lavish’ lighting had increased the demand for electricity from the company.[21]

In 1935 the Charing Cross Company distributed electricity from 14 substations, these were located at: 12 Maiden Lane, Short's Gardens, St. Martins Lane, Chancery Lane, Soho Square, Aldwych, Trafalgar Buildings, 85 Fenchurch Street, 86 Upper Thames Street, 68/70 Ludgate Hill, Seacoal Lane, 9 Beech Street, Broad Street, and Smithfield Market.[4] By 1936–7 the substation in St. Martin's Lane was equipped with three generator sets of 575 kW, 750 kW and 1200 kW, in that year they generated 2.38 MWh of power. The substation was severely damaged during the war.[4]

In 1903 the Charing Cross Company charged 3.78 d./kWh for a private electricity supply and 1.77 d./kWh for public lighting. These were both less than that charged by the City of London Company: 3.87 and 1.98 d./kWh respectively.[5]

By 1912–3 a more complex charging system was used.[14] For the West End area the company charged 2.02 d./kWh for street lighting and 3.18 d./kWh for ‘other’ public lighting, it charged 3.15 d./kWh for private lighting, 1.22 d./kWh for power and heat to the Borough Council and 1.51 d./kWh for power and heat to private customers. For the City area the charges were 2.37 d./kWh other public lighting, 3.14 d./kWh for private lighting, 0.93 d./kWh for power and heat to the borough council, and 1.51 d./kWh for power and heat to private customers.[14]

For 1918 the charging system was less complex, for the West End the company charged 3.47 d./kWh for public lighting, 6.26 d./kWh for private light, 2.45 d./kWh for power and heat; for the City undertaking the charges were 6.64 d./kWh for private lighting and 2.31 d./kWh for power and heat.[15]

The financial revenue, expenditure and surplus over the period 1912–36 was as follows:[14][15][17][22]

The increase in expenditure between 1913 and 1919 is partly due to the rise in commodity prices during this period. The company noted that the bill for coal in 1914 was less than £40,000 but by 1918 it was £108,000 and in 1919 was £157,000.[23]

Dividends to shareholders were paid throughout the operational life of the company. Dividends as a percentage of the total capital raised in a given year were as shown, together with the average dividends paid by the London company electricity undertakings.[14][15]

In 1920 the company was one of nine electricity undertakings which formed the London Electricity Joint Committee to oppose schemes proposed by the Electricity Commissioners for reorganisation of electricity supplies in London.[24] The Joint Committee acquired Bow generating station and the transmission system. In 1924 the company changed its name to the Charing Cross Electricity Supply Company Limited and was an authorised distribution supplying an electricity supply in bulk to Smithfield Markets Electric Supply Company.[16]

In 1925 the Charing Cross Company and other undertakings formed, under the provisions of the London Electricity (No.2) Act 1925, the London Power Company.[25] The LPC amalgamated the ownership and management of the generating stations, but left the supply of electricity to customers with the constituent companies.[26]  

From 1 January 1937 the Charing Cross Company acquired five other undertakings to coordinate the distribution of electricity in their areas of London.[26] The other undertakings were: Brompton and Kensington Electricity Supply Company Limited; Chelsea Electricity Supply Company Limited; Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric Lighting Company Limited; St. James and Pall Mall Electric Light Company Limited; and Westminster Electric Supply Corporation Limited.[26] The Charing Cross Company changed its name again to Central London Electricity Limited. All the shares of Central London Electricity were held by a non-statutory company known as London Associated Electricity Undertakings Limited.[17] The company's supply area now included Chelsea, City of London, Holborn (south), Kensington (south), Westminster (east). However, the company failed to attract a wider range of London companies to the merger and therefore planning of London's electricity remained un-integrated.[27]

Upon nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948 the Central London Electricity Limited undertaking was abolished and its generation and main transmission assets, including Bow power station, was transferred to the British Electricity Authority (1948–55),[11] then to the Central Electricity Authority (1955–57), and finally to the Central Electricity Generating Board (1958–69). The electricity distribution and sales to customer assets of the Central London Electricity Limited were vested in the London Electricity Board.

In 1954 the working capacity of the generators at Bow power station was 51.5 MW. The steam capacity of the chain gate stoked boilers was 785,000 lb/hr (98.9 kg/s) and the steam conditions at the turbine stop-valves was 250 psi (17.2 bar) and 343 °C. In 1954 the station burned 23,600 tons of coal.[28] In 1954 the overall thermal efficiency of the station was 13.6 per cent, this had fallen to 9.84 percent in the final year of operation.[28]

The electricity output of the station, in GWh, over the period 1946–68 was:[29][30][28][31][32][33]

Bow power station ceased generating electricity in 1969 and was subsequently demolished.[4]

The Shorts Gardens substation continued to generate electricity until the early 1960s, using internal combustion engines. There was one 550 kW and two 1,125 kW oil engines.[34] It was used as a peak shaving plant: in 1954 it had a capacity 2.8 MW, was run for 604 hours and delivered 287 MWh.[28] In 1961 the station had a capacity of 2.8 MW, it was run for 170 hours and delivered 62 MWh.[31] In 1961/2 it generated 118 MWh, and in 1962/3 it delivered 252 MWh.[35] The building is used (in 2020) by UK Power Networks.[36]