of the sums of public money involved and the inadequacy of the
“standard price” in the case of supply companies. In order to meet
the first point clauses were introduced by the House of Commons to
enable joint electricity authorities to be constituted on a voluntary
basis to undertake duties similar in the main to those of district
electricity boards. The formation of a board with compulsory powers
was retained as an alternative to an authority where voluntary action
failed to carry put the intention of the Act.
As the bill did not reach the House of Lords until shortly before the end of the parliamentary session, the contentious parts of the bill were withdrawn by the Government.
Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919.—The Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919, was therefore essentially a voluntary measure. It provided for the appointment by the Board of Trade of not more than five electricity commissioners, three of whom were to be selected for practical, commercial, and scientific knowledge and wide business experience, including that of electrical supply. The five commissioners appointed were Sir John Snell (chairman), Mr. W. W. Lackie (formerly chief engineer and manager of the Glasgow Corp. electricity department), Mr. A. Page (formerly general manager of the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Co.); Sir Harry Haward (formerly comptroller of the L.C.C.), and Mr. H. Booth, of the Board of Trade. Their general duties are defined in the Act as “promoting, regulating, and supervising the supply of electricity”; and they are empowered to conduct experiments for the improvement of electricity supply or the utilization of fuel or water-power, and to appoint committees to advise them on matters connected with the general improvement and development of the supply of electricity. Their first specific duty was to determine provisionally “electricity districts” for the purposes of the Act and to hold a local inquiry in each suggested area to determine the area finally, and to hear and consider schemes for improving the existing organizations for the supply of electricity. Such schemes might provide for the establishment and incorporation of a district electricity authority representing authorized undertakers in the district, county councils, local authorities, large consumers of electricity, and other interests within the district, and for the exercise by that authority of the powers of the authorized undertakers, and for the transfer to it of any of the undertakings by consent and on terms provided by the scheme. Effect is given to a scheme by its embodiment in an order presented to the Board of Trade for confirmation and, when confirmed with or without modification, laid before Parliament for approval, whereafter it has the effect of an Act.
The duty of a joint electricity authority is to “provide or secure a cheap and abundant supply of electricity within its district,” and for that purpose it shall have such powers as may be embodied in the scheme as regards: (a) the supply of electricity within the district (including the construction of generating stations, main transmission lines, and other works), and (b) the acquisition of supply undertakings. No generating station or main transmission line can be established or extended without the consent of the electricity commissioners, except in the case of a private station, which must comply with regulations as to the type of current, frequency, and pressure laid down by the commissioners. Each joint authority is given power to supply electricity within its district except in the area of an authorized distributor or a power company for any save certain specified purposes, unless consent is given, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld. Local authorities are given power to transfer their supply undertakings or their rights of purchase over supply companies undertakings to joint authorities by agreement. Similar provision is made for the transfer of company undertakings to joint authorities. Under the heading of “Transitory Provisions” the Act enables the Board of Trade, at any time after an electricity district has been provisionally determined and until two years after a joint authority has been established, to carry out interim works, for which purpose the Treasury may issue out of the consolidated fund sums not exceeding £20,000,000 in the aggregate, such works to be vested later in the joint authority on repayment of capital cost and interest. Several amendments to the Electric Lighting Acts are made, notably with regard to overhead lines and wayleaves, all absolute vetoes being abolished. Joint authorities and municipal supply authorities are authorized to provide, let for hire, and connect, but not to manufacture or sell, electrical apparatus.
The Act applies to Scotland and Ireland with slight modifications, and provides that all the powers of the Board of Trade relating to electric supply shall be transferred to the Minister of Transport, to whom the electricity commissioners shall be wholly responsible. (These powers were formally transferred to the Minister of Transport on Jan. 23 1920 by an Order in Council, entitled the Ministry of Transport [Electricity Supply] Order, 1920.) In the 1920 session, and again in 1921, the Minister of Transport brought in a bill—the Electricity (Supply) bill—to amend the Act, with the chief object of conferring financial powers on joint electricity authorities. These authorities are to be empowered to borrow on the security of their revenues and property; and authorized undertakers, county and local authorities, and any local authority, company, or person receiving or intending to receive a supply of electricity are to be authorized to lend money, subscribe for securities, guarantee payment of interest, or give financial assistance in any other approved form to the joint authorities. The prices charged by a joint authority are to be so fixed that the receipts shall be sufficient to cover expenditure with such margin as the electricity commissioners may allow; and the commissioners may require such modifications in prices charged by authorized undertakers as will secure that the benefit of any reduction in the cost of electricity to the undertakers or in the capital employed shall accrue to consumers. Clause 14 makes the ordinary period of revision of maximum prices three years (instead of five under the Electric Lighting Acts, 1882 to 1909), and the provisions are extended to local authorities.
In pursuance of Section 5 (1) of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919, the electricity commissioners issued, during 1920, notices of the provisional determination of 13 electricity districts, as follows:—(1) Lower Severn; (2) Mid-Lancashire; (3) S.E. Lancashire; (4) W. Riding (Aire and Calder); (5) Mersey and W. Lancashire; (6) N. Wales and Chester; (7) London and Home Counties; (8) N.W. Midlands; (9) N.E. Midlands; (10) S.W. Midlands; (11) E. Midlands; (12) S. Wales; (13) N. Lancashire and S. Cumberland. For the guidance of organizing committees of supply engineers and representatives of local authorities and others interested, the commissioners had previously issued a statement on the procedure to be adopted at local inquiries into the delimitation of areas, and a memorandum setting out the technical and other particulars required in connexion with proposals for the formation of joint authorities. The holding of local inquiries was begun in 1921.
Growth of Associated Effort.—Apart from the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919, and the changes wrought by the war, the most notable feature in the electric supply industry was the growth of representative associations. The municipal undertakings are represented in the Incorporated Municipal Electrical Assn. (founded in 1895); the electric power companies by the Incorporated Association of Electric Power Companies (registered in 1905); and the provisional order companies outside London by the Provincial Electric Supply Committee of the United Kingdom (formed in Jan. 1917). The majority of the metropolitan electric supply companies are represented by the London Electricity Joint Committee (1920), Ltd., and there is also a conference of local authorities owning electricity undertakings in Greater London. Similar associated effort has been manifested in other branches of the electrical industry, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers has provided a common platform upon which all sections could meet for the discussion of legislative and other problems. In June 1919 the British Electrical Development Assn. (director and secretary, Mr. J. W. Beauchamp) was formed (incorporated Jan. 17 1920) to further the interests of electrical progress by means of organized propaganda. This association is supported by the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the main associations representing the electricity supply industry, the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Assn., the Electrical Contractors' Assn., and kindred electrical associations. During 1921 the British Electrical Development Assn. submitted to the electricity commissioners a lengthy memorandum on the subject of tariffs for electric supply undertakings. Multi-part tariffs, in which the flat rate per unit is replaced by a fixed charge intended to cover the capital cost of service and by a running charge, were strongly advocated as a means of stimulating the use of electricity for cooking, heating, and other purposes apart from lighting, and also of putting the finance of supply undertakings on a more satisfactory footing in view of the abnormal increases in the cost of plant, fuel, and labour brought about by the war. The commissioners were asked to include in the Electricity (Supply) bill a clause authorizing multi-part tariffs. At present such tariffs cannot be enforced, as the undertakings must offer, at least as an alternative, current at a flat rate with a maximum charge.
Joint Industrial Councils.—For the purposes of “Whitley” Councils to deal with questions of wages and conditions of labour in electric supply undertakings, the country has been divided into 13 districts, each with a district council representing employers and employed. The district councils are in turn represented on a national joint industrial council for the electricity supply industry (formed May 1919). There was also instituted, on Dec. 12 1919, a national joint board of employers and members of staffs for the electricity supply industry, to deal with all matters affecting salaries and conditions of employment of technical engineers. This board proposed to set up 13 district joint boards corresponding to those constituted by the national joint industrial council mentioned above.
Statistics.—The total British capital involved in 1920 by 334 electricity supply companies (this being the number for which returns were available) is given in Garcke's Manual of Electrical Undertakings and Directory, Vol. 24, as £72,812,872. In 1910 the corresponding figure for 239 companies was £47,047,847. Loans authorized to be raised by municipalities for electricity amounted to £70,836,470 (308 undertakings) in 1920 and to £42,617,969 in 1910 (316 undertakings). Over the same period the average dividend (on the whole of the capital) of electricity supply companies rose from 4.32% to 5.58%, the major part of this increase being due to the ordinary shares, which returned 6.51% in 1920 as compared with 3.91% in 1910. During 1920 the municipal undertakings showed a trading balance of £5,828,432. After providing for special charges, interest on loans, sinking fund, and depreciation and reserve, there was among the more successful undertakings an aggregate surplus of £621,385 and among the others a deficit of £260,850.
