The South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) generated, transmitted and distributed electricity throughout the south of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, including the former regions of

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Welsh language, Welsh; in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic, meaning 'strath

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

of the River Clyde') was one of nine former Local government in Scotland, local government Regions and districts of Scotland, regions of Scotland cre ...

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Central,

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

and

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

and a few towns in northern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It operated from 1955 to 1991.

History

As established by the

Electricity Act 1947 The Electricity Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the electricity supply industry in Great Britain. It established a central authority called t ...

there were two

British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...

divisions responsible for the generation of electricity in Scotland based in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There were also two area boards for distribution of electricity responsible to the British Electricity Authority and to the Minister of Fuel and Power. It was thought by the industry and government that a single board for the South of Scotland would be better placed to cover the whole area and would provide administrative advantages such as simplification. The South of Scotland would then be in line with the North of Scotland which was covered by the

North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board (1943–1990) was founded to design, construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the Highlands of Scotland. It is regarded as one of the major achievements of Scottish politician Thomas Johnston, ...

for both the generation and distribution of electricity. The new arrangement would provide a more efficient service and better match Scotland's needs. The Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act 1954 transferred to the Secretary of State for Scotland the responsibility for electricity matters in Scotland and established the South of Scotland Electricity Board, a new public authority for the generation and distribution of electricity in the South of Scotland. Scotland was given control of its own electricity undertakings, and the responsibility for adequate performance became the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Scotland. On 1 April 1955, South West Scotland Electricity Board and South East Scotland Electricity Board were merged into the South of Scotland Electricity Board. The board operated conventional coal-fired steam stations, hydro-electric stations and nuclear power stations. The board was dissolved in 1991 as a consequence of the

Electricity Act 1989 The Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29) provided for the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Great Britain, by replacing the Central Electricity Generating Board in England and Wales and by restructuring the South of Scotland Electricity ...

which privatised the British electricity industry.

Constitution

The 1954 act specified the management board was to comprise a chairman and not less than four and not more than eight members. All appointments to the board were to be made by the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

. The Board's headquarters were at Sauchiehall Street and Inverlair Avenue Glasgow.

Chairmen

South East Scotland Electricity Board

* 1948–1955: Sir Robert Norman Duke, KBE, CB, DSO, MC

South West Scotland Electricity Board

* 1948–1955: Sir John Sydney Pickles, MIEE

South of Scotland Electricity Board

* 1955–1962: Sir John Sydney Pickles, MIEE * 1962–1967: Sir

Norman Randall Elliott Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

, CBE * 1967–1973: Charles Lewis Cuthbert Allen, FICE, FIEE * 1974–1977: Sir Francis Leonard Tombs, FREng (later Baron Tombs) * 1977–1982:

Donald Roy Berridge Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterp ...

, CBE * 1982–1991: Sir

Donald John Miller Sir Donald John Miller (9 February 1927-19 September 2023) was a Scottish electrical engineer and former chairman of the South of Scotland Electricity Board and Scottish Power. Education Sir Donald Miller was educated at Banchory Academy and ...

Electricity generation

Electricity generated by the board was from coal-fired steam power stations, hydro-electric stations, and from 1964 from nuclear power stations.

Steam power stations

Outline details of the Steam power stations of the South of Scotland Electricity Board in 1958 are as follows: The Board commissioned large coal-fired stations such as the 760 MW Kincardine power station (1958), the 1200 MW

Inverkip Inverkip (; ) is a village and parish in the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, southwest of Greenock and north of Largs on the A78 trunk road. The village takes its name from ...

(1967), the 1200 MW Cockenzie power station (1967), and the 2400 MW Longannet power station (1970).

Hydro-electric power stations

Outline details of the Hydro-electric power stations of the South of Scotland Electricity Board in 1958 are as follows:

Nuclear power stations

The South of Scotland Electricity Board commissioned three nuclear power stations.

Transmission

The supply of electricity was by high voltage cables. In 1958 there were 170 miles of transmission line operating at 275 kV and 841 miles at 132 kV. They connected 20 power stations and 44 transforming stations. There were connections to the North of Scotland grid system and to England via the 275 kV Clyde’s Mill to Carlisle line. By April 1989 there were 526 km of 400 kV lines; 1,565 km of 275 kV lines; 1,642 km of 132 kV lines; and 80,256 km of less than 132 kV lines.

Distribution areas

Electricity supply to customers was through eight Distribution Areas. The supply and other key data for 1956 were as follows:

Operating data 1949 to 1989

Key operating data for the South of Scotland Electricity Board is summarised in the table. The amount of electricity supplied by the board, in GWh, is shown on the graph.

Dissolution

As a consequence of the

, which privatised the British electricity industry, the nuclear assets of the South of Scotland Electricity Board were transferred to Scottish Nuclear. In January 1990 a reactor at the Hunterston A Magnox Power Station was shut down. The second reactor was shut down on 31 March 1990, the day before the nuclear generation assets (Hunterston A, Hunterston B and Torness Power Stations) were vested with

Scottish Nuclear Scottish Nuclear was formed as a precursor to the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Scotland on 1 April 1990. A purpose-built headquarters was built in 1992 in the new town of East Kilbride. It consisted of the nuclear assets ...

. The remainder of the assets were privatised as

ScottishPower Scottish Power Limited, trading as ScottishPower, is a vertically integrated energy company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of Spanish utility firm Iberdrola. ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central and ...

in 1991 and the South of Scotland Electricity Board was dissolved.

References

External links

THE FRASERS' RETURN (1963)
(archive film sponsored by the South of Scotland Electricity Board - from the National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE) {{DEFAULTSORT:South Of Scotland Electricity Board Utilities of the United Kingdom Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Defunct electric power companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Scotland Energy in Scotland Electric power in Scotland Energy companies established in 1955 Energy companies disestablished in 1991 1955 establishments in Scotland 1991 disestablishments in Scotland British companies established in 1955 British companies disestablished in 1991 Electric power companies of Scotland