Northern Electric
Northern Electric was the electricity supplier and distribution company for the North East of England before it was split.
The supply business became part of npower and the distribution business is part of Northern Powergrid.
Use of the Northern Electric Brand Today?
The Northern Electric brand is no longer in use after several company ownership changes and trades the supply business operates under the npower name and the distribution business operates under the Northern Powergrid name.
Northern Electric Contact Phone Numbers & Email
Call – 0800 073 3000 or 0330 100 3000 (Npower)
Northern Electric Address
Npower Group Ltd
Windmill Hill Business Park
Whitehill Way
Swindon
SN5 6PB
Website:
The History of Northern Electric
Northern Electric was formed in 1990 after the privatisation of the UK electricity market. Northern Electric assets came from the former North Eastern Electricity Board which was created in 1948 as a result of the Electricity Act 1947 where all UK electricity businesses were nationalised.
The North Eastern Electricity Board was formed from 21 Local Authority electricity businesses from across the North East and North Yorkshire, along with 13 private electricity businesses.
In 1996, Northern Electric was bought by CalEnergy an American utility company. CalEnergy created a subsidiary company to manage the electricity assets in the UK called CE Electric.
In 2000, the Northern Electric business operating as CE Electric was split into two entities as a result of the Utilities Act 2000. This split the supply and distribution elements of the business into two businesses.
In 2001, CE Electric entered into an agreement with npower to exchange the former Yorkshire Electricity distribution business in exchange for the former Northern Electric energy supply business.
CE Electric combined the former distribution arms of Northern Electric and Yorkshire Electricity into CE Electric UK but traded the businesses as Yorkshire Electricity Distribution Limited (NEDL) and Northern Electric Distribution Limited (NEDL). In 2011, the CE Electric businesses were renamed Northern Powergrid.
The former Northern Electric energy supply business was absorbed into the npower business and brand which was owned by a company called Innogy.
In 2002, Innogy was bought by RWE who was a German utility company who operated in several European countries and its activities included energy supply, energy distribution, and energy generation. They renamed the business RWE Npower but the energy supply business continued to trade under the npower brand.
The Innogy name was then given to the renewable energy business within RWE and was responsible for all RWE’s renewable energy projects across Europe. As part of a company restructure in 2016, the energy networks and retail businesses were moved back under Innogy but these businesses continued to trade as npower in the UK.
npower has since been acquired by E.ON, and handles the business energy division of through the brand npower Business Solutions, Powered by E.On, while E.ON Next supplies the domestic market.
What Happened to Northern Electric?
The Northern Electric business was split into two businesses for distribution and supply. In a trade with npower the distribution business was taken over by CE Electric who later became Northern Powergrid and the supply business was merged into the npower business.
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