A Good Investment: Electricity Grids

Abstract

From the chaos caused by numerous small local electricity generators, a few organizations such as NESCo in north-east England, Commonwealth Edison in Chicago, and Rheinische Westfalisches Elektrizitalswerke (RWE) in the Ruhr and the Berlin system in Germany stood out as building integrated networks.¹ In all the developed countries a mixture of public and private ownership had grown up which often militated against cooperation. Though the lessons of the technical advantages of these networks were understood, it was the organization of the industry which stood in the way of further progress.

We are witnessing a stage in the miracle of electricity… We look back on the countless centuries which have made this island the most beautiful in the world. Then came man with his industrial revolution, and we have covered parts of the country with dirt, smoke, and poverty… Now we have called in science to our aid, and electricity is going to be its handmaiden.

Stanley Baldwin at the opening of Stourport Electricity Station, 1927