Business Energy

SWEB Energy

Up until the privatisation of the UK energy market in 1986-90, SWEB Energy was known as the South Western Electricity Board (SWEB) - the regional electricity company operating in South West England. (13/10/10).

SWEB was bought by EDF Energy in 2003 and the brand name survived until 2006 before it was discontinued.

EDF

EDF Energy is one of the largest energy companies in the UK supplying electricity and gas to nearly 5 million customers throughout the UK.

EDF Energy has customers from four brands: SWEB Energy, Seeboard Energy, London Energy and Virgin Home Energy. In addition to being involved in the supply of electricity and gas, EDF Energy is also a major electricity generator.

Privatisation

When the electricity market was privatised in 1990, the country was split into 14 area electricity boards (AEB) which were responsible for the distribution and supply of electricity to consumers.

Each of these areas is owned by a supplier - either E.ON, Npower, Scottish Power, EDF or Scottish & Southern Energy.

These are known as the region’s “incumbent supplier.”

The map below shows which supplier owns which region, and also shows how the country is divided into the different distribution areas:

After privatisation, SWEB was bought by Southern Company in 1995.

A few years later in 1999 SWEB was then split into an electricity engineering and distribution company - called Western Power Distribution - and a retail energy company that retained the SWEB brand name.

SWEB was later bought by EDF Energy in 2003.