The company was founded in 1898 for the purpose of obtaining parliamentary powers to operate electric light and tramway undertakings in England, Wales and Scotland.
The Urban Electric Company raised capital in June 1901 by issuing £500,000 of shares.
[3] In 1923 the company controlled the following undertakings, these were generally small scale, the installed generating capacity, electricity sold and operating surplus was:[6] In 1930 the capital raised by the issue of shares was used to acquire control of the following electricity undertakings:[5] The Cornwall Electric Power Company Limited was a subsidiary company, which operated power stations at Hayle (8.80 MW in 1923, 32.5 MW in 1939) and Carn Brea (900 kW in 1923).
[5] This had an impact on the Cornwall Electric Company which was dependent on tin mines for the bulk of its income.
[8][9] By 1946 the only generating station operated by the Urban Electric Supply Company was the Hawick undertaking, with an output of 1,888 MWh.