It was formed in July 1891 to generate and supply electricity to the City of London and part of north Southwark.
[1] The Wool Quay site had little space for expansion and the generating station was closed in 1893, the equipment was sold or transferred to Bankside.
[7] The first alternating current supply for private consumers commenced on 14 December 1891 from Bankside power station.
[4] Between December 1891 and July 1892, 271 miles of electricity mains had been laid in the city, causing considerable disruption.
[11] In addition the company rented out a range of electrical appliances including kettles, saucepans, irons and hotplates.
The City of London Electric Lighting Act 1900 authorised the construction of a generating station at Bow.
[19] In 1923 Bankside power station, rated at 64 MW, had the largest generating capacity of any of the electricity companies or municipal undertakings in the London area.
Dividends to shareholders were limited to seven per cent per annum and the amount carried forward in the accounts was also restricted.
[21] The agreement “in the interests of consumers of electricity” was to establish a joint committee; to institute a common commercial procedure; to unify methods of charging consumers; and to avoid duplication and conflicting systems of supply mains involving unnecessary expenditure.
[23] The CLELCo undertook to provide free wiring to the Peabody Buildings in Finsbury and Holborn but on condition that all gas lighting was removed.
[24] The CLELCo expanded its site on Bankside to provided for new generating equipment; from the mid-1890s until the late-1930s the company purchased and acquired surrounding properties and land.
In 1897 the company purchased and demolished a row of shops and residential properties on the north side of Sumner Street Southwark adjacent to Bankside power station.
In 1900 the company obtained an Act of Parliament to compulsorily purchase surrounding properties and to divert local roads such as Pike Gardens.
[25] Some protection of working class housing was provided for in the Act: the company were obliged to erect “artizan’s or workmen’s dwelling-houses” sufficient for 200 people within St Saviour's district of Southwark.
[27] In the late-1930s the opportunity arose to purchase two large plots of land adjacent to Bankside power station.
In December 1936, the Central Electricity Board (CEB) directed the company to purchase land owned by the City of London Corporation to the east of Bankside.
In June 1938 the opportunity arose to purchase 79,000 square feet (0.734 ha) of land immediately to the west of Bankside power station.
The auction took place on 23 June 1938, and the manager of the CLELCo wrote to the Electricity Commissioners saying that he had been able to purchase the land for £45,000 “which is considerably less than my advisers and I expected to pay”.
[31] The company drew up plans, and ordered equipment, for a new 240 MW power station eventually built as Bankside B.
Representatives of the industry met with the Minister of Fuel and Power in December 1945 to discuss the implications of nationalisation.
Ownership of all public supply power stations and the national grid was vested in the British Electricity Authority.