ALWAYS UNDER PRESSURE AllVays under Pressure A History of North Thames Gas since 1949 Malcolm Falkus Professor of Economic History University of New England, New South Wales M MACMILLAN PRESS © North Thames Gas 1988 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WClE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typesetting by Footnote Graphics, Warminster, Wilts British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Falkus, Malcolm Always under pressure: a history of North Thames Gas since 1949. 1. North Thames Gas-History I. Title ISBN 978-0-333-46819-7 ISBN 978-1-349-10316-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-10316-4 Contents List of Maps and Figures vi ~~ru~ ri List of Illustrations ix Preface xi 1 North Thames Gas: History and Tradition 1 2 The New Enterprise 21 3 The Struggle for Survival 46 4 New Technology and New Markets 61 5 The Canvey Experiment and the Beginnings of Conversion 89 6 The Conversion of Central London 123 7 Organisational Change and the Time of Troubles 132 8 A Headquarters at Last 164 9 The Staines Era: Renaissance and Reformation 173 Bibliographical Note 210 Appendix 211 I Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of North Thames Gas Board/ Region 211 II North Thames Gas Board Part-time Board Members, 1949-72 211 III North Thames Gas Board as at 31 December 1972 212 IV Chairman's Management Committee from 1964 Index 214 List of Maps and Figures 1.1 Organisation of Divisions and Districts, 1949 5 2.1 Divisional structure and location of gasworks, 1960 32 4.1 From October 1964 Algerian methane reached eight Area Boards through the specially laid 'methane grid' 77 5.1 Cards specially printed in Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Gujarati, 1970 114 7.1 North Thames Gas Board organisational chart, 1960 133 7.2 Reorganisation, January 1971 153 9.1 Restructuring, 1986 190 vi List of Tables 28 2.1 North Thames Gas, 1949 2.2 North Thames Gas Board- gas-making methods and 33 capacity at 1 May 1949 2.3 North Thames - gas-making stations and capacity at 1 33 May 1949 (m. cu ft gas/day) 40 2.4 Coal carbonised and coke and Cleanglow for sale 41 2.5 Gross income from sales, 1956-57 42 2.6 Throughput at Products Works, 1950-59 42 2.7 North Thames domestic tariffs at vesting day, 1949 3.1 Average cost of coal carbonised, 1949-59 (year ended 31 47 March) 48 3.2 North Thames: cost of gas, 1950-60 (d. per therm) 48 3.3 Quarterly gas tariffs (domestic), 1951-60 (d. per therm) 48 3.4 Average price of fuels, 1950-60 4.1 Gas capacity at North Thames, 1952-69, capacity (m. cu ft 67 gas/day) at 31 March 67 4.2 Gas feedstocks used by North Thames, 1960-69 68 4.3 North Thames personnel, 1956-71 (numbers at 31 March) 71 4.4 Cost of gas by various processes, 1964 76 4.5 North Sea gas discoveries, 1965-73 79 4.6 Domestic gas tariffs (credit quarterly), 1960-71 82 4.7 Appliance sales, 1954-71 (OOOs) 83 4.8 Growth in gas sales, 1950-71 (million therms) 85 4.9 Growth in gas sales, 1961-71 4.10 Relative costs of living-room heating by various methods, 87 1963-64 96 5.1 Appliances at Canvey 96 5.2 Age categories of appliances at Canvey, 1966 (%) 98 5.3 Canvey project timetable 106 5.4 Conversion schedule of Radiation Group (OOOs) 108 5.5 Major natural gas discoveries 5.6 National conversion programme, 1966-78 (OOOs 109 consumers converted) 112 5.7 Progress of conversion 118 5.8 Conversion costs by Unit, April-September 1971 129 6.1 Commercial establishments converted by CUll 138 7.1 North Thames Gas, revenue account, 1949-72 141 7.2 Interest charges and self-financing ratio, 1965-71 7.3 Cumulative advances from Ministry of Power and Gas 141 Council (up to 31 March) vii viii List of Tables 7.4 Complaints to Consultative Council, 1967-73 145 7.5 Complaints received at Chief Office, 1971-72 145 7.6 Outstanding disputes received at Billing Centres and dealt with at District Offices (OOOs) 147 7.7 Outstanding correspondence at Billing Centres (OOOs) 147 7.8 Average delay between meter reading and despatch of account (days) 148 7.9 Customers by Divisions, 31 March 1970 150 7.10 North Thames Gas capacity, 1 November 1970 (m. cu ft gas/day) at oil gasification and gas reforming plants 161 9.1 British energy market, 1970-85 (million therms) 175 9.2 North Thames's ranking among Regions, 1951-86 (figures at 31 March) 177 9.3 British Gas's five-year plan forecasts (billion therms) 180 9.4 North Thames: growth of gas sales(% change) over five- year periods 183 9.5 Total gas sales (million therms) 184 9.6 North Thames's maximum daily sendouts (million therms) 184 9.7 Selected record sendouts (million therms) 185 9.8 Appliance sales, 1955-85 (OOOs) 185 9.9 Sales of central heating boilers (North Thames outlets) 185 9.10 Independent gas appliance retailers, North Thames Region 186 9.11 Total employees 1976-86 (year ended 31 March) 189 9.12 Number of showrooms, 1949-87 193 9.13 Disconnections of credit customers, North Thames 201 9.14 Selected interruptible industrial sales, 1977-86 (million therms) 203 9.15 Complaints to North Thames Gas Consultative and Consumers' Councils, 1971-86 204 9.16 Complaints by letter, 1974-87 (year ended March 31) 206 List of Illustrations 1 Part of Beckton Gasworks in 1949 8 2 A group of boy employees at a subsidised holiday camp in 1953 10 3 Typical cookers 1900-47 19 4 A scene on the Chelsea Embankment 20 5 The chief office of the new North Thames Gas Board, c. 1950 22 6 Meeting of the Chairman and Chief Executives in the Board Room, 1949 23 7 The gasholder at the Fulham Works in 1951 34 8 The m.v. Falconer Birks leaves the River Tyne to make her final delivery of coal, 1970 35 9 View of the Brentford Works in 1951 36 10 Early morning scene in one of the Beckton loco sheds, c. 1953 38 11 The Chairman, Michael Milne-Watson, with the Duchess of Kent in May 1952 39 12 The Vincent Street, Westminster, switchboard in 1949 44 13 A District Office, c. 1952 49 14 Inside a Beckton retort house, c. 1950 51 15 A range of new convector heaters, 1959 55 16 The Pound Lane Divisional Warehouse, 1951 57 17 Apprentices under instruction at Watson House, Fulham, 1951 59 18 Part of Romford reforming plant by night, 1969 63 19 Southall's revolutionary new catalytic hydrocarbon reforming plant, 1963 65 20 The Methane Pioneer arrives at Canvey Island, 20 February 1959 74 21 The first connection on the ship-to-shore pipeline for the Methane Pioneer, February 1959 75 22 Fulham Works during the 'arctic winter' of 1962-63 81 23 The first combined showroom and Heating Advisory Centre 86 24 Aerial view of Canvey Island methane terminal, 1965 90 25 Canvey Island Conversion Unit, June 1966 100 26 Conversion brought an increased demand for domestic meters 110 27 The first 'C Day', 29 Aprill968 111 ix X List of Illustrations 28 CUll: the conversion unit at Nine Elms in 1973 124 29 Sir Michael Milne-Watson and George Cooper sign the contract for the conversion of Central London, 1974 126 30 'C Day' at Buckingham Palace, 11 August 1975 130 31 Meeting of the Board at 30 Kensington Church Street, March 1966 135 32 The last coal cargo arrives at Beckton Pier, 16 April1969 158 33 Apprentices at the newly-opened Training Centre in Uxbridge, April 1969 154 34 Typical advertisements, c. 1960 162 35 The Executive Committee at the new Regional Headquarters, Staines, January 1977 171 36 North Thames advertisement in the theatre programme for Alan Bennett's The Old Country, 1977 174 37 A new showroom in Hammersmith Shopping Centre, 1979 194 38 Demolition of three chimneys at Beckton, 1984 98 39 The Chairman's Christmas message to staff, December 1972 205 40 Official opening of the Historical Museum, Bromley-by-Bow, 1983 207