Power and the People (A History of British Energy)

The argument for a revolution in the ownership of our national energy system, from a leading industry insider.

The energy crisis of the early 2020s exposed the true nature of Britain’s energy system: fragile, fragmented, comically complicated, and hopelessly dependent on imported fossil fuels. How did it come to this? Power and the People uncovers the hidden history of British energy from the Victorians to the present.

The book tells the story of the private and publicly owned organisations that built the energy system. From local municipal electricity companies in the early 20th century, to state-owned enterprises that built infrastructure at a massive scale and breakneck speed from 1926 to 1979: The electricity grid, nuclear and hydroelectric power stations, some of the world’s first liquified natural gas facilities, a nationwide gas transportation network. The system builders assembled mega infrastructure faster and cheaper than Britain’s private sector companies can today. The frenzied construction bonanza changed the landscape of Britain and fabric of everyday life for citizens.

From 1980s the electricity and gas industries were broken apart and sold off. Private ownership shifted the focus from asset building to asset sweating. Privatization worked for a short time but then the model started to breakdown. Climate change introduced a new problem. In response the privatised model was gradually adapted and over decades became a complex and contradictory system that is crumbling. Today, we are living under a zombie system that lurches from crisis to crisis. But there is hope. Downing offers an alternative future of what is possible, based on lessons from our own past.