The Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company (abbreviated to DISCo) was a pre-nationalisation, private electricity supply company, based in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. The company was set up in 1889 by Charles Algernon Parsons.[1][2] The company built a number of small coal-fired power stations in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, initially to supply homes and streets with electric lighting. They also provided power for an electrified tram line in the western part of the city.
DISCo was the first electric supply company in the world to generate electricity using turbo generators, thanks to Parsons' invention of the steam turbine.[3] The company existed until the nationalisation of the UK's electrical supply industry in 1948.