The Electricity Commissioners were a department of the United Kingdom government's Ministry of Transport, and attempted to regulate the electricity supply industry in its early days.
In 1919, the UK government was planning the reconstruction of the nation's industries after the First World War. The Board of Trade set up the Electric Power Supply Committee, chaired by Sir Archibald Williamson, which proposed the effective nationalisation of the industry. Parliament rejected this solution but enacted the committee's recommendations in a weaker form, including the setting up of an Electricity Commission and a number of Joint Electricity Authorities:
The Commission continued to exist for some years after nationalisation, and finally closed in 1953.