Department of Energy (United Kingdom)
Encyclopedia
The Department of Energy was a department of the United Kingdom Government
Departments of the United Kingdom Government
Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of Cabinet ministers who are usually called secretaries of state when they are in charge of Government departments called ministerial departments...

. The Department was established in January 1974, when the responsibility for energy production was transferred away from the Department of Trade and Industry in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...

 and with the importance of North Sea oil
North Sea oil
North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...

 increasing.

Following the privatisation
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 of the energy industries in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, which had begun some ten years earlier, the Department was abolished in 1992. Many of its functions were abandoned, with the remainder being absorbed into other bodies or departments. The Office of Gas Supply (Ofgas) and the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER) took over market regulation, the Energy Efficiency
Energy conservation
Energy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy consumption. Energy conservation can be achieved through increased efficient energy use, in conjunction with decreased energy consumption and/or reduced consumption from conventional energy sources...

 Office was transferred to the Department of the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...

, and various media-related functions were transferred to the Department for National Heritage. The core activities relating to UK energy policy
Energy policy of the United Kingdom
The current energy policy of the United Kingdom is set out in the Energy White Paper of May 2007 and Low Carbon Transition Plan of July 2009, building on previous work including the 2003 Energy White Paper and the Energy Review Report in 2006...

 were transferred back to the DTI.

The Department of Energy was a significant source of funding for energy research, and for investigations into the potential for renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

 technologies in the UK. Work funded or part-funded by the DoE included investigations into Geothermal power and the Severn Barrage
Severn Barrage
The Severn Barrage refers to a range of ideas for building a barrage from the English coast to the Welsh coast over the Severn tidal estuary. Ideas for damming or barraging the Severn estuary have existed since the 19th century. The building of such a barrage would be a huge engineering feat,...


Secretary of State for Energy

  • Lord Carrington
    Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington
    Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, is a British Conservative politician. He served as British Foreign Secretary between 1979 and 1982 and as the sixth Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988. He is the last surviving member of the Cabinets of both Harold Macmillan and Sir...

     (8 January 1974 – 4 March 1974)
  • Eric Varley (5 March 1974 – 10 June 1975)
  • Tony Benn
    Tony Benn
    Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...

     (10 June 1975 – 4 May 1979)
  • David Howell
    David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford
    David Arthur Russell Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, PC , is a British Conservative politician, journalist, and economic consultant. Having been successively Secretary of State for Energy and then for Transport under Margaret Thatcher, Howell is now a Minister of State in the Foreign Office...

     (5 May 1979 – 14 September 1981)
  • Nigel Lawson
    Nigel Lawson
    Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC , is a British Conservative politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974–92, and served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Margaret Thatcher from June 1983 to October 1989...

     (14 September 1981 – 11 June 1983)
  • Peter Walker
    Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester
    Peter Edward Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester, MBE, PC , was British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet as the Environment Secretary , Trade and Industry Secretary , Agriculture Minister , Energy Secretary and Welsh Secretary...

     (11 June 1983 – 13 June 1987)
  • Cecil Parkinson
    Cecil Parkinson
    Cecil Parkinson, Baron Parkinson, PC , is a British Conservative politician and former Cabinet Minister.-Early life:...

     (13 June 1987 – 24 July 1989)
  • John Wakeham (24 July 1989 – 11 April 1992)


Junior ministers included Peter Morrison
Peter Morrison
Sir Peter Hugh Morrison PC was a British Conservative politician, MP for Chester from 1974 to 1992, and Parliamentary Private Secretary to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.-Education:...

 (Minister of State in 1987) and Patrick Jenkin
Patrick Jenkin, Baron Jenkin of Roding
Charles Patrick Fleeming Jenkin, Baron Jenkin of Roding, PC is a British Conservative politician and the great-grandson of the scientist Fleeming Jenkin....

.

Earlier Ministries

Although only formed in 1974, the Department of Energy was not the first ministry to handle energy-related matters. The Ministry of Fuel and Power was created on 11 June 1942 from functions separated from the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...

. It took charge of coal production, allocation of supplies of fuels, control of energy prices and petrol rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The Ministry of Fuel and Power was renamed the Ministry of Power in January 1957. The Ministry of Power later became part of the Ministry of Technology on 6 October 1969, which merged into the Department of Trade and Industry on 20 October 1970.

See also

  • Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use in the United Kingdom stood at 3,894.6 kilogrammes of oil equivalent per capita in 2005 compared to a world average of 1,778.0. In 2008, total energy consumed was 9.85 exajoules - around 2% of the estimated 474 EJ worldwide total...

  • Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
    Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
    The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet....


External links

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