Freshwater and Totland electricity supply
There's not much information on the electricity supply to Freshwater and Totland.
Reference is made in the IW County in 1899 to the Freshwater and Totland Supply Company Ltd and their purchase of land near to the railway station for their generating station.
in 1900, Hansard refers to a special report by the Board of Trade regarding the Freshwater and Totland (I.W.) Electricity Supply Company Ltd. The London Gazette, 22 January 1907 records that this company would be struck off in three months 'unless cause is shown to the contrary.' It seems probable that the company never managed to introduce electricity to the area.
An article in the IW County Press in 1924 records a meeting at the Standard Hotel, Freshwater for the 'Proposed Electric Lighting for Freshwater and Totland', those present included representatives of the IW Electric Light and Power Co. (IWELPC), and Edmundson's, Ltd., of London. The proposal was to have an underground feed from the IWELPC Newport Power Station to Freshwater, thence by underground cable to the main roads and finally by overhead distribution to individual properties.The meeting resolved that the residents were of the opinion that a public supply of electricity was in the best interest of the district.
The next mention found to the electricity supply in the area is in 1928 when the opening of the Kingston Power Station replaced the local generating stations in other other parts of the island but it was reported that the line to the Freshwater area would be delayed.
1931 sees reports of the I.W. Electric and Power Company in discussions with the IW Rural District Council and the Freshwater Parish Council regarding overhead lines to supply electricity for the West Wight. This appears to be the same time as the company took over the Yarmouth supply and probably reflects the connection to the Kingston Power Stations and the closure of both the Yarmouth and Freshwater generating stations.
2019, the location of the Freshwater generating station is unclear and what happened to it after it's closure is unknown.
