The Electric Lighting Acts 1882 to 1909[1] are acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
They comprise four public general acts:
The 1882 act was the first public measure to facilitate and regulate the early electricity industry in the UK. It enabled the Board of Trade to authorise the supply of electricity in any area by a local authority, company or person. Its provisions allowed suppliers to avoid the effort and expense of promoting private parliamentary bills to regularise their legal powers to supply electricity.
The 1888 act amended the 1882 act and extended the local authority reversion period from 21 to 42 years.
The Electric Lighting (Clauses) Act 1899 incorporated in one act the clauses and provisions contained in provisional orders made under the 1882 and 1888 Acts. It laid down common principles to be incorporated in all provisional orders.
The Electric Lighting Act 1909 amended the earlier legislation to reflect the need to reorganise electricity supply to take into account technical developments in the generation and transmission of electricity. The Electric Lighting Acts were amended by subsequent legislation, such as the Electricity Act 1947 which nationalised the electricity supply industry. The Electric Lighting Acts 1882 to 1909 were repealed in their entirety by the Electricity Act 1989, which privatised the UK electricity supply industry.