British Gas plc

British Gas

Type	Defunct
Industry	Utilities
Fate	Demerged (1997)
Predecessor(s)	Area Gas Boards
Successor(s)	BG plc and Centrica
Founded	1986
Products	Gas
Website	www.britishgas.co.uk

British Gas plc was formerly the monopoly gas supplier and is a private sector in the United Kingdom.

History

In the early 1900s the gas market in the United Kingdom was mainly run by county councils and small private firms. At this time the use of an inflammable gas (often known as "Town Gas") piped to houses as a fuel was still being marketed to consumers, by such means as the National Gas Congress and Exhibition (1913). The gas used in the 19th and early 20th centuries was Coal gas but in the period 1967-1977 British domestic coal gas supplies were replaced by Natural gas.

In 1948 Clement Attlee's Labour government reshaped the gas industry, bringing in The Gas Act 1948. The act nationalised the UK gas industry and 1062 privately owned and municipal gas companies were merged into twelve Area Gas Boards each a separate body with its own management structure. Each Area Board was divided into geographical groups or divisions which were often further divided into smaller districts. These boards simply became known as the "Gas Board", a term people still use when referring to British Gas.

Gas Area Boards

No. on map Name of Area Board Coverage of area 1 Scottish Gas Board Scotland 2 Northern Gas Board Durham, Northumberland and parts of Cumberland, Westmorland and the North Riding of Yorkshire 3 North-Western Gas Board Lancashire and parts of Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Westmorland and the West Riding of Yorkshire 4 North-Eastern Gas Board The East Riding of Yorkshire and parts of the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire (including York) 5 Wales Gas Board Wales 6 West Midlands Gas Board Parts of Cheshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire (including Birmingham) and Worcestershire 7 East Midlands Gas Board Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire 8 South Western Gas Board Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Gloucestershire and parts of Berkshire, Devon, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire 9 North Thames Gas Board Parts of the administrative County of London and of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Surrey 10 Eastern Gas Board Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, the Isle of Ely, Norfolk, the Soke of Peterborough, Suffolk and parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex 11 Southern Gas Board Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Devon, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire 12 South Eastern Gas Board Kent, and parts of the administrative County of London and of Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex

Map of Gas Area Boards

The North-Eastern Gas Board carry out work in Bradford in 1973.

During the 1950s the use of gas increased greatly with British Gas creating high street showrooms to promote the use of gas. By the 1960s the UK was importing 300,000 tons of liquefied natural gas from Africa every year.

Surveys in the North Sea had shown that there were large reserves of natural gas and in 1966 the decision was taken to convert the UK from town gas to natural gas. The next year the first natural gas from the North Sea had arrived and over the next 10 years British Gas carried out a massive conversion programme converting appliances from town gas to natural gas.

Centralisation

In January 1973, British Gas was restructured by the Gas Act 1972 which centralised the company creating the British Gas Corporation and turning the area boards into regions of the new company.

Privatisation

The former Headquarters of the North Eastern Gas Board (NEGAS) in Leeds.

The Conservative Government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduced the Gas Act 1986 in which led to the privatization of the company, and on 8 December 1986 its shares floated on the London stock market. In the hope of encouraging individuals to become shareholders, the offer was intensely advertised with the "If you see Sid...Tell him!" campaign. The initial public offering of 135p per share valued the company at £9 billion, the highest equity offering ever at the time.

The government created an industry regulator, the Office of Gas Supply (Ofgas), to protect customer needs. It later became part of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).

In preparation for the opening of the gas supply markets to competition in 1996, British Gas plc had to go through a major restructuring which separated the company into five divisions.

• Public Gas Supply (Domestic gas supply).
• Contract Trading (Business Supply)
• Transportation and Storage later named Transco (Transporting and storage of gas).
• Service and Installation (Later named Services).
• Retail (Later named Energy Centres).

In June 1991, chairman Robert Evans sparked controversy by accepting a pay rise of 66% - 10 times above the rate of inflation at the time. This took his salary from £222,000 to £370,000, a pay rise which was condemned by the Labour Party as "sheer unbridled greed". This followed allegations of greed against the organisation a month earlier when it reported a 42% rise in pre-tax profits.

Demerger

Following the restructuring, with shareholder approval, British Gas plc was demerged to form two separate companies on 17 February 1997.

• Centrica plc
  • Took responsibility of the gas supply business and the gas production business of the North and South Morecambe gas fields. Centrica has the rights to the British Gas name inside the UK.

• BG plc included:
  • Took responsibility of Transco the gas transportation business and the international exploration and production business. BG plc went through a financial restructuring in 1999. This resulted in a new parent company being created, BG Group plc, which subsequently demerged into two new business BG Group plc and Lattice Group plc. Lattice which contained the Transco business then went on to merge with the National Grid Company. BG Group has the rights to the British Gas name outside the UK.

Shareholders received one BG share and one Centrica share for every British Gas share.

See also

• Energy policy of the United Kingdom
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
• Meter Point Administration Number

References

• Chandler, Dean and Lacey, A. Douglas (1949) The Rise of the Gas Industry in Britain. British Gas Council, London.
• Scott-Wilson, D. (1972) North Sea Heritage: The Story of Britain's Natural Gas. The Gas Council, London.
• Cassidy, Richard. (1979) Gas: Natural Energy. Fredrick Muller Ltd London. ISBN 978-0584620566
• Peebles, Malcolm W.H. (1980) Evolution of the Gas Industry. The Macmillan Press, London and Basingstoke. ISBN 0-333-27971-9.
• Williams, Trevor I. (1981) A History of the British Gas Industry, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-858157-2.
• Barry-King, Hugh. (1984) New Flame. How Gas changed the commercial, domestic and industrial life of Britain between 1883 and 1984. Graphmitre Ltd, Tavistock, Devon UK.
• Hutchison, Sir Kenneth, (1987) High Speed Gas: An autobiography. Duckworth, London. ISBN 0-7156-2200-5.
• BBC article about Gas Prices

External links

• britishgas.co.uk British Gas UK - The official UK British Gas site.
• British Gas Energy Smart - Details of British Gas' "pay as you go" electricity tariff and home energy monitor launched in Winter 2009
• British Gas HomeCare - Information on the British Gas HomeCare scheme.
• National Grid National Gas Archive - Includes contact details for the archives of British Gas and its predecessors, and a history of gas supply in the UK.
• Central heating systems - British Gas is Europe's leading installer of central heating boilers and systems.
• Boiler installation - Offers on new energy-efficient boilers.
• Radiators - British Gas offers a range of designer radiators.
• Energy supplier - British Gas supplies gas and electricity
• Paperless gas bills - Manage your energy bills online at your own convenience.
• Corgi On the 1st of April 2009, the CORGI Gas registration scheme was replaced in Great Britain by the Gas Safe Register.
• British Gas to install two million smart meters and recruiting 2,600 "smart energy experts" by 2012 .
• The Big Generation Green Quiz quiz adventure game created by Playniac as part of British Gas' Generation Green programme.