A history of electricity supplies to the City of London.

What is it about?

An examination of electricity supplies to the City from 1878 and with a particular focus on the City of London Electricity Lighting Company Limited founded in 1890 and abolished in 1948.

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Photo by Simon Rae on Unsplash

Photo by Simon Rae on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article demonstrates that the City of London Company was efficient, profitable and active in expanding the generation and consumption of electricity in its area of supply. It challenges assertions in the existing literature that the British electricity industry was small-scale and inefficient with little incentive for expansion. The company was subject to increasing bureaucratic control of its activities in the inter-war period.