The power station was redeveloped several times with new equipment replacing retired plant.

[1] The company built a power station in Vastern Road Reading (51°27'42"N 0°58'18"W)[2] and supplied electricity from November 1895.

[3] The riverside location facilitated the supply of coal by barge, and provided cooling water for the power station.

In 1914 the company further extended its supply area through the means of the Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No.7) Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo.

[5] The supply area included Reading, Caversham, Mapledurham, Tilehurst and Theale; it provided electricity in bulk to York Town, Blackwater, Henley, Shiplake, Twyford and Sonning.

[3] It generated and supplied electricity to the town of Reading and the surrounding area through the construction of a generating station at Reading and an electricity distribution network of high voltage cables.

[6] In 1921 the company chairman was William May; the managing director was G. W. Spenser Hawkes; the other directors were Sir Phillip Dawson, Charles Ernest Hewett, John May and William Pole Routh.

The original plant at Reading power station comprised horizontal compound condensing engines coupled directly to flywheel alternators.

[12] The CEB identified high efficiency ‘selected’ power stations that would supply electricity most effectively.

The CEB also constructed the national grid (1927–33) to connect power stations within a region.