Newcastle Local Section: Chairman´s address

Previous to the year 1900, public electricity supplies in this country were, generally speaking, chiefly utilized for lighting. As the result of an investigation in 1898 a Joint Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons made certain recommendations, which resulted two years later in the granting of statutory powers to several undertakings formed for the purpose of supplying electrical energy over very large districts, covering in many cases some hundreds of square miles.