The co-ordination of supplies took place in 1931 with the foundation of the Electricity Board for Northern Ireland.

The ownership of the all public power stations in Northern Ireland was vested in the Electricity Board in 1949.

The low pressure sets were supplied with up to a total of 540,000 pounds per hour (68 kg/s) of steam at 650 psi and 925 °F (44.8 bar and 496 °C) from four Clarke Chapman tri-drum coal-fired boilers.

[4] The East Bridge power station comprised two 6 MW turbo-alternators supplied with up to 120,000 lb/hr (15.1 kg/s) of steam from two Stirling coal-fired boilers.

[4] The station at Curran Point Larne was used for winter peak loads and maintenance outages.

At its inception the committee comprised Sir Eyre Gordon (chair), W. J. McC.

Girvan (City general manager) and T. G. Christie (Northern Ireland Electricity Board).

[4] The committee was abolished in 1967 upon the establishment of the Northern Ireland Joint Electricity Authority.

During the Ulster Workers' Council strike in 1974, when electricity supplies were severely disrupted, the government considered generating power using a Royal Navy nuclear submarine in Belfast Lough but the idea was abandoned as being technically unfeasible.

In 1992 the power stations at Belfast Harbour, Ballylumford, Coolkeeragh and Kilroot were demerged and sold.

In 1993 the remainder of NIE (transmission, supply and retail businesses) was privatised as Northern Ireland Electricity plc.

[11] On 7 July 2010 BBC News reported that ESB was to purchase NIE for £1 billion.

[12] In September 2010 unionist politicians Peter Robinson and Reg Empey wrote to the Taoiseach objecting to the transaction.

They said it was "inappropriate" and that it amounted to the purchase of a "key component" of Northern Ireland's infrastructure.

[13] ESB is a statutory corporation in the Republic of Ireland whose board members are appointed by the Irish government.

The company's operations consist of ownership of the electricity transmission and distribution networks in Northern Ireland, consisting of 30,000 miles (49,000 kilometers) of overhead lines and underground cables, 75,000 pole-mounted transformers and 340 major substations.