At the time of its building it was stated by the Stourbridge County Express that it was planned to be the largest power station in England.

[3] In 1927, ownership passed to the new West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority (WMJEA), and with the building of the National Grid in the early 1930s it became a "selected station".

In 1951, the station achieved brief fame in the technical world by being the first to run a large alternator, whose turbine was disabled, as a so-called "synchronous condenser", which enabled the generation of lagging reactive current in order to boost voltage at a weak point in the system.

Originally equipped with reciprocating steam engines, during its long life a total of eighteen generating sets were installed and in turn replaced with larger units or scrapped.

The station was coal-fired throughout its life, although small quantities of more unusual low-cost fuels were burned, including coke, sawdust, and at one period chicken droppings.

The electricity output in GWh is as shown.In the 1970s a gas turbine plant was installed at Ocker Hill.

In the year ending 31 March 1981 the plant delivered 5.61 GWh of electricity just 0.2 per cent of its capability.