In 1893 electrical power was well on its way from being a laboratory subject to becoming a practical proposition and a number of installations were already in existence. In Brighton, for example, Volk's Railway commenced operation in 1883 and in 1885 Blackpool commenced operation of electric tramcars via the conduit system. In 1884 the Great Eastern Railway had "electrical lighting" at Parkeston, Harwich and in 1893 constructed an "electric lighting plant" at Norton Folgate, close to Bishopsgate station. The contractor was John Mowlem, although Mowlem himself had died in 1868 and in due course the company became simply "Mowlem" under the auspices of Burt & Freeman, former business partners. The power plant was equipped with three boilers from Messrs. Davey Paxman of Colchester along with two 200ihp 'Windsor Compound' engines and three of same but of 100ihp (ihp = indicated horsepower). Messrs. Crompton & Co. supplied other equipment.

Bishopsgate station, the Low Level part at least, was illuminated by electricity from November 1893 using carbon arc lamps. The downsides of carbon arc lighting were high maintenance and being expensive to run, although this is relative as the filament bulb was at the time still very much in the experimental stage and nowhere near as efficient as the bulbs familiar today. The main drawback with carbon arc lighting was it being unsuitable for use in totally enclosed spaces, therefore parts of Bishopsgate station would continue to use gas lighting. In June 1902 it was decided to equip Norton Folgate with a Parsons steam turbine which is quoted as being of 175kW capability. The kilowatt is a relatively modern SI unit of electrical power and used here for convenience but in 1902 would have been measured as "horsepower" or "electrical horsepower" with 175kW equating to, to nearest whole number, 235 horsepower; 1 horsepower being 746 Watts again to the nearest whole number.

Records show Norton Folgate was given a new generator in March 1904, the details of which had proved elusive at the time of writing. This 1904 work appears to have been in connection with the illumination by electricity of Liverpool Street station, which began dazzling those looking at it in awe later in 1904. The days of the Norton Folgate power plant were, however, numbered. In 1907 the GER completed its power plant (then the more usual term for what we now call a "power station") and Norton Folgate was reduced to substation status, being supplied by cable from Stratford. In this form Horton Folgate finally ceased operation in 1932 and as of May 2023 part of the building survives. Its address is 233 Shoreditch High Street. .
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