Pre war many large factories would generate their own power (eg belt drive to many machines) also the domestic market would expand eg coal driven ranges replaced by electric cookers, much more labour saving devices and from early 50s the omnipresent TV. I recall my father buying a washing machine in very early 50s, a TV at Christmas 1952.

SOD said

• UK electricity consumption fell by over 30% between 2010 and 2020. (From 79.41Mtonnes oil equivalent to 54.10Mtonnes oil equivalent in 2020).

I'm not surprised. The closure of so much heavy and medium industry is responsible for this.

For example ninety percent of TATA Steel's UK electrical energy consumption is used to make liquid steel, the balance covered hot rolling, cold rolling and further processes.

Teeside steel works closed in 2015 (by then Teeside Cast Products). Its blast furnaces used vast amounts of electricity to drive the fans used to produce the 'blast' to operate the furnace. These motors would be rated in Giga-Watts.

Llanwern Hot strip mill closed in 2016

The plant I worked at, Orb, the only maker of Silicon Steel sheet for electrical machines in the UK, closed in 2019. In 2018 we used 90 Tera-Watt-hours of electricity at a cost of £7.7M.

There must be many other example in other industries which I can't call to mind.

Cheers

Dave

Lucy’s of Oxford used to generate their own electricity using diesel electric generators, they had a 1MW induction furnace to supply the casting shop. As an apprentice we visited their factory for a tour round, the main generating shop was unbelievably noisy with a number of generator sets running, another interesting thing they had was a private ASTA testing station which they used to test switchgear to destruction, this was powered by its own diesel generator. Unfortunately we were unable to witness a test but the damage to the railway sleeper lining to the test chamber bore some major gouges from previous tests. The inspection ports had six inch thick glass in the tiny windows.

Mike

J. Hancock says that "sixty years ago nearly every large town/city had a complete infrastructure in place to provide electric powered transport. All affordable, convenient and pollution free".

The genesis of the electricity network that we know now was individual municipal corporations changing from horse-drawn to electric tramcars. There was no "grid" so they had to make their own electricity. The companies that supplied this kit usually over-estimated the power required (to allow for expansion of the tram system over time and to boost their sales in the short time) leaving the council with an excess of capacity, which they realised could be sold for domestic lighting, etc. The power stations were built near the centre of the tram system, which meant that many were built in the centre of town.They were invariably coal powered, with chain-grate stokers that struggled to reach 20% thermal efficiency, but as every house had its own open coal fire(s) nobody bothered about pollution. Battersea would have been one of the later and bigger examples.

The Tramways Act stipulated that tram systems had to be built and operated by companies independent of the councils, but could be bought out by a council after some years. This hindered investment no end. Why invest, only to get bought out before you had got your money back?

The council-owned transport was convenient, was apparently affordable (because some of the cost was hidden in the rates) but far from pollution free.

All this changed with the nationalisation of the electric companies after WW2. New, bigger, power stations were built out of town, a grid was built to connect them and Scotland embarked on the "Power from the Glens" programme.

And yes, I know about the steam powered trams widely used in the Midlands.They were coal-fired too.

Dick