It is a renewal and development of the earlier 'Transition Pathways' (TP) project, which was initially established in 2008 with the joint sponsorship of E.ON UK (the electricity generator) and the EPSRC. This project addressed the challenge of the so-called energy 'trilemma': the simultaneous delivery of low carbon, secure, and affordable energy services for the electricity sector. It developed and applied a variety of tools and approaches to analyse the technical feasibility, environmental impacts, economic consequences, and social acceptability of three 'transition pathways' towards a UK low carbon electricity system. These pathways explore the roles of market, government and civil society actors in the governance of a low carbon energy transition. The research within the RTP Project seeks to explore further the constraints and opportunities in realising a low carbon UK energy sector, including those stemming from European developments. This project includes studies on the horizon scanning of innovative energy technologies over the period to 2050, the feasibility of demand responses, uncertainties in economic analysis, the estimation of investment costs of the different pathways, and the implications of markets for investment decisions about energy technologies. Further work is being undertaken on conceptualising, mapping and analysing 'actor dynamics' in the contemporary UK electricity sector, historical transitions and case studies, integrated energy networks modelling and evaluation, and 'whole systems' energy and environmental appraisal of low carbon technologies and pathways. The consortium is also developing their initial work on branching points on pathways, in order to identify and explore other potential branching points on the core transition pathways. Follow us on Twitter @RealisingTP This document has been prepared to enable results of on-going RTP work to be made rapidly available. It has not necessarily been subject to review and approval, and may not have the authority of a full Research Report or published paper. Abstract This paper is an historical study exploring the development of rural electrification in England and Wales, focusing on the late 1920s to 1960s. Largely through the lens of a relational approach to energy transitions, the research examines how and why rural electrification came to be seen as problematic. The paper examines how discourses focused on diverse rural geographies, the importance of providing industry with electric power, the perceived need for large-scale power generation, and the cost of electricity distribution affected decisions about extending the electricity network to rural areas. It explores how expectations of the rural idyll, electricity demand, arguments around technical and economic efficiencies, and patterns of ownership of generation and distribution combined to make provision of electricity to rural areas challenging, i.e. a 'problem'. The period of study includes the 'reigns' of different national governmental bodies; the Electricity Commissioners and the Central Electricity Board (CEB) and the British Electricity Authority (BEA). The paper traces the impact of state, market, and technology governance logics and the pervasive influence of an urban-industrial model of electricity development. The paper argues for a recognition of rural electrification's heterogeneity, whether spatial, temporal, technological or cultural. This implies that rather than one rural electrification 'problem', there are different 'problems'. And it calls for an appreciation that the lens through which rural electrification is viewed has influenced and will go on influencing how each area's 'problem' is constructed and addressed.

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