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 , 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: Ascot District Gas and Electricity Company (only the gas operations were acquired: the electricity undertaking had become part of the Southern Electricity Board in 1948). Chertsey Gas Consumers' Company Ltd. Commercial Gas Company. Gas Light and Coke Company. Hornsey Gas Company. Lea Bridge District Gas Company. North Middlesex Gas Company. Romford Gas Company. Slough Gas and Coke Company. Southend-on-Sea County Borough Corporation. Uxbridge, Maidenhead, Wycombe and District Gas Company. Windsor Royal Gaslight Company.
These organisations operated 26 gas-making stations ranging in capacity from the large Beckton Gas Works ( of gas per day) to the smallest at Amersham ( of gas per day). The works had a total annual output capacity of of gas. The board inherited a total of 1,746,200 consumers and 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, Morden, Chertsey, Ascot, Bracknell and Maidenhead areas.
The North Thames Gas Board operated staff sports clubs, welfare and other leisure activities for employees, inherited from its predecessor the GLCC. Its sports ground, now derelict, is located on Leigh Road in East Ham, next to the North Circular Road, and is also the location of a (now disused) gasometer. At one time, it also operated a sports ground in Acton.
NTGB initials can still be seen on service covers across London dating from the era of its operation.
Operations
Town gas had traditionally been produced by carbonising (roasting) 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. (£3.21) per ton in 1950 to 123s.11d. (£6.20) per ton in 1959. The board had to increase its domestic gas price from 1s 4d. per therm in 1951 to 2s 1.85d. per therm in 1957, an increase of 62%. In contrast the domestic price for electricity rose by only 22% in the 1950s and domestic oil prices increased by only 12%. 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.