North Thames Gas Board


The North Thames Gas Board was an autonomous state-owned utility area gas board providing gas for light and heat to industries, commercial premises and homes in south-east England. The board's area of supply, encompassing 1,059 square miles, included parts of the County of London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Surrey.

History

The North Thames Gas Board was established on 1 May 1949 under the Gas Act 1948 which nationalised the gas industry. The board was responsible to the Minister of Fuel and Power, later the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, for its operation and finances. The board was dissolved on 31 December 1972 when the North Thames area became a region of the British Gas Corporation under the Gas Act 1972.
Upon nationalisation the board took over twelve local authority and privately owned gas production and supply utilities:
These organisations operated 26 gas-making stations ranging in capacity from the large works at Beckton to the smallest at Amersham. The works had a total annual output capacity of 69,731 million cubic feet of gas. There was a total of 1,746,200 consumers and 8,283 miles of gas distribution mains.
The board proposed to extend its gas grid to all gas-making stations and to shutdown and decommission the smallest, oldest and most uneconomic stations. The board concentrated production on those sites on the River Thames where coal could be delivered economically by its own fleet of colliers. As well as gas, coke was a significant by-product of the gas-making process and sales of coke accounted for a fifth to a quarter of total revenue. In addition the board sold a range of other gas-making by-products such as tar, pitch, benzole, ammonia and other refined chemicals
Although named North Thames the gas board supplied gas to several areas south of the river Thames, including the Richmond, Chertsey, Ascot, Bracknell and Maidenhead areas.

Operations

had traditionally been produced by carbonising coal. The majority of gas made by the North Thames Gas Board in 1949 still used this method. In addition water gas was produced by passing steam through white-hot coke. During the 1950s the price of coal, a major feed-stock for gas-making, rose considerably doubling from 64s.3d. per ton in 1950 to 123s.11d. per ton in 1959. The board had to increase its domestic gas price from 16d. per therm in 1951 to 25.85d. per therm in 1957, an increase of 62 per cent. In contrast the domestic price for electricity rose by only 22 per cent in the 1950s and domestic oil prices increased by only 12 per cent. The board found it difficult to further penetrate the domestic and commercial space heating, central heating and other markets. The board instigated new more efficient and cost-effective processes for gas-making including a ‘Gas Integrale’ plant at Kensal Green in 1955, and a plant using low-grade coal at Bromley in 1960. The board also developed process for reforming oil to produce gas including plants at Southall and Romford and butane/air plants at Beckton, Bromley and Fulham. These new processes shifted the production of gas away from coal carbonisation to gas/oil reforming.
The board was also instrumental in the pioneering import of liquefied natural gas, which was first landed at a pilot plant built by North Thames Gas Board on Canvey Island in February 1959. The scheme was successful in supplying natural gas to other gas boards for use as a reformer feed-stock. The North Thames Gas Board, acting for the Gas Council, then designed and built a full-scale methane terminal on Canvey capable of processing 700,000 tons per year of natural gas from Algeria, commissioned in 1964. The national transportation and distribution pipeline from Canvey formed the backbone of the National Transmission System for transporting North Sea gas after it was first landed in Yorkshire in 1967. The board was also responsible for the 1966 pilot scheme on Canvey to convert all domestic, commercial and industrial to natural gas. The conversion programme was extended across Britain over the period 1967-77.
The technical transformation of gas manufacture and processing resulted in a significant reduction in the number of board employees, from about 25,000 in the 1950s to 8,000 in 1988.
The financial turnover of the board between 1962 and 1971 was:In 1967 the board experienced the worst deficit in its history. The war in the Middle East resulted in the closure of the Suez Canal, a 50 per cent increase in oil prices, and stoppage of gas import from Algeria. The board’s revenue account was in deficit by £4.3 million and there was a drive to cut costs and improve efficiency. Central heating boilers and space heaters were promoted vigorously, and the arrival of natural gas enabled the board to offer attractive rates to industrial consumers.
The growth in gas consumption and the number of customers over the period 1950-71 is shown in the following tables.
1950-511959-601963-641970-71
Domestic220.2203.2257.5505.6
Industrial68.178.976.2107.0
Commercial73.292.0107.7159.3
Total367.1376.8442.5772.2

In 1972 with the programme of natural gas conversion 58 per cent complete, the board operated only six gas works: Beckton, Bromley, Fulham, Romford, Slough and Southall, and 34 gas holders. The total send-out of gas for the year was 1,028 million therms, and the intake of natural gas was 939 million therms.

Organisation

Upon nationalisation the North Thames Gas Board’s area was organised into the following districts and divisions: 
The North Thames Gas Board headquarters was located at 30 Kensington Church Street, London from 1949 until 1977. In 1977 the then regional North Thames headquarters was relocated to London Road, Staines-upon-Thames, where the overall control room for the pipe network was located, with sub-control rooms located in Slough and Romford. The nine storey headquarters building, North Thames House, had originally been built for Ready Mixed Concrete for their headquarters but the company had been hit by the recession of the mid-1970s and sold the building. It has since been demolished.
The Gas Act 1948 established Consultative Councils for each Area Board. They were charged with considering any matter affecting the supply of gas in the area; and of considering and reporting to the Area Board any such matter. Each council had between 20 and 30 members. Some members were appointed as representatives of local authorities and some as representatives of commerce, industry, labour and other interests. The North Thames Gas Consultative Council was based at 28 Charing Cross Road. It comprised a Chairman, a Deputy Chairman, a Secretary, 16 members representing local authorities, and 11 members representatives of commerce, industry, labour and other interests. The Council met six times a year. There were four District Committees which met quarterly:
The Gas Act 1972 created a single statutory authority the British Gas Corporation from 1 January 1973. The North Thames Gas Board ceased to exist and North Thames became a region of the British Gas Corporation.
The Gas Act 1986 privatised the British gas industry with the assets of the British Gas Corporation transferred to British Gas plc which started trading on 8 December 1986. North Thames Gas was restructured into eleven Districts in 1986:
The chairmen of the North Thames Gas Board/Region were:
Sir Michael Milne-Watson         18 January 1949 – 30 April 1964
Richard Stringer Johnson         1 May 1964 – 19 May 1970
George Edward Cooper            20 May 1970 – 31 March 1977
John Gadd                               1 April 1977 – 31 January 1988
Arthur Allan Dove                     1 February 1988  – 1991