§ [The references are to Bill No. 59.]
§ Clause 1, page 1, line 20, leave out ("and manager")
§ Clause 1, page 2, line 10, after ("unremunerative") insert ("but in no case for a period of more than five years from the commencement of the financial year next after that in which such expenditure commences to be incurred")
§ Clause 1, page 2, line 15, after ("and") insert ("all the")
§ Clause 1, page 2, line 18, after ("period") insert ("not exceeding sixty years")
§ Clause 1, page 2, line 24, leave out from ("borrow") to the end of the clause and insert ("any sums in excess of the amount so fixed, otherwise than for the purpose of paying off loans previously raised, unless authorised by an order of the Electricity Commissioners confirmed by the Minister and such order shall be provisional only and shall not come into force unless confirmed by Parliament").
§ Clause 3, page 3, line 18, after ("1875") insert ("the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890")
§ Clause 3, page 3, line 19, leave out ("that Act") and insert ("those Acts").
§ Clause 5, page 5, line 39, after ("scheme") insert ("under the principal Act")
§ Clause 5, page 5, line 39, after ("authority") insert ("or other body for the improvement of the organisation of the supply of electricity in any electricity district")
§ Clause 5, page 5, line 42, after ("authority") insert ("or body")
§ Clause 5, page 5, line 43, after ("authority") insert ("or body").
§ Clause 7, page 7, line 25, leave out ("or") and insert ("(b) those")
§ Clause 7, page 7, line 28, after ("furnish") insert ("to the Electricity Commissioners not later than the first day of March in each year")
§ Clause 7, page 7, line 29, leave out from ("them") to the end of line 32.
§ Clause 8, page 8, line 17, after the second ("of") insert ("the whole or any part of")
§ Clause 8, page 8, line 20, after ("may") insert ("in the option of the local authority").
§
Clause 11, page 9, line 18, at end insert:
("Provided that the joint electricity authority or authorised undertakers may at any time whilst
1005
a line is so retained apply to the Minister of Transport for a revision of the said terms and conditions, in which event the provisions of section twenty-two of the principal Act shall apply as if the retention of the line in position were the placing of an electric line across land, and the authority or undertakers shall not be required to remove the line pending the decision upon such application.")
§ After Clause 12, page 9, insert the following new clause:
§ Conditions under which restriction on generating stations and obligation, to take supply from are not to apply.
§ The Electricity Commissioners shall not—
- (a) refuse, under section eleven of the principal Act, their consent to the establishment of a new, or the extension of an existing, generating station by any authorised undertakers if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Electricity Commissioners that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the undertakers are or will, if the consent be given, be in a position to give a supply of electricity adequate in quantity and regularity to meet present and prospective demands of their consumers at a cost not greater than that at which they could give a supply if they obtained a supply of electricity from some other available source designated by the Electricity Commissioners; or
- (b) require under section nineteen of the principal Act any authorised undertakers to enter into an agreement for taking a supply of electricity from some other specified undertakers if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Electricity Commissioners that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the duration of the period during which the supply is taken, and the estimated financial results likely to be obtained during that period, the undertakers would, if they obtained a supply of electricity from some other source, be in a position to give a supply of electricity adequate in quantity and regularity to meet the present and prospective demands of their consumers at a cost not greater than that at which they could give such a supply if they obtained the supply from those specified undertakers;
§ Clause 13, page 9, line 27, leave out ("may")
§ Clause 13, page 9, line 28, leave out ("constituting") and insert ("establishing")
§ Clause 13, page 9, line 29, leave out ("suspend") and insert ("may")
§ Clause 13, page 9, line 30, after ("undertakers") insert ("suspend")
§ Clause 13, page 9, line 35, leave out from ("fit") to ("and") in line 37
1006
§
Clause 13, page 9, line 39, at end insert:
("Provided that no such powers shall be suspended under the provisions of this section except with the consent of the authority or authorities in whom the said powers are vested.
§ (2) Where under the powers of this section the Electricity Commissioners suspend any powers of purchase relating to the undertaking of any authorised undertakers or any part thereof they may make provision as to the relation between the prices which may be charged for electricity and the dividends to be paid by such undertakers.")
§ Clause 14, page 9, leave, out Clause 14.
§ Clause 15, page 10, line 10, after the second ("by") insert ("the order establishing that authority or by")
§ Clause 15, page 10, line 14, leave out ("the special order") and insert, ("such order as aforesaid")
§ Clause 16, page 10, line 7, leave out from ("Provided") to ("In") in page 11, line 8, and insert ("that, if in any particular part of the area of supply of a power company the power company are not willing and in a position to supply electricity to any local authority, company, or person, who is prepared to enter into a binding contract with that power company to continue to receive and pay for a supply of electricity upon such terms and conditions (including the payment of a minimum annual sum) as will, in the opinion of the Electricity Commissioners, afford an adequate return to the power company and is also (in the case of a company or person) prepared to give to the power company (if required by them so to do) security for the payment of all sums which may become due to the power company under the contract, then and in such case the Electricity Commissioners may, by special order under section twenty-six of the principal Act, authorise a joint electricity authority to supply electricity in that particular part of the area of supply of the power company without the consent of the power company.")
§ After Clause 16, page 11, insert the following new clause:
§ Special provisions as to power companies.
§ .—(1) The Electricity Commissioners may by the order establishing a joint electricity authority, or after the establishment of a joint electricity authority by an order made on the application of that authority, exclude from the area of supply of any power company, subject to such terms, conditions, and reservations as the Electricity Commissioners may think fit—
- (a) any part of that area in which any right of the power company to supply electricity is subject to the absolute veto of some other authorised undertaker, and where the order provides for or is made conditional on the transfer to the joint electricity authority of the generating station from which a supply of electricity is given to the part of the area in question;
- (b) any part of that area which at the time of the local inquiry on the scheme to which the order establishing the joint electricity authority gives effect, or, as the case may be, at the time of the application for the order, is not being supplied by the power company, and
1007 which it appears to the Electricity Commissioners could be better served by the joint electricity authority themselves or by that authority acting through any authorised undertakers; and - (c) with the consent of the power company any other part of the area of supply of the power company;
§
Provided that where on the application of a joint electricity authority it is proposed to make such an order (not being an order made under section seven of the principal Act), and the power company, or any county council, local authority, or authorised undertakers which appear to the Electricity Commissioners to be interested object to the proposed order, effect shall not be given to the proposals except by a special order under section twenty-six of the principal Act.
§ (2) Where in pursuance of this section any part of the area of supply of a power company is by order excluded from such area of supply—
- (a) the exclusion shall not affect any rights of the power company existing immediately before the making of the order to lay mains through the part so excluded, but any such rights may continue to be exercised by the power company notwithstanding such exclusion;
- (b) the exclusion shall not prevent the power company from giving a supply of electricity at any point at their remaining area for the purpose of haulage or traction on any railway, tramway, or canal, and for the purpose of lighting vehicles and vessels used on any such railway, tramway, or canal which they could have supplied if the part of the area excluded under this section had remained part of their area of supply.
§ (3) Section fourteen of the principal Act is repealed.
§ Clause 17, page 11, line 39, leave out ("shall") and insert ("may")
§ Clause 17, page 12, line 9, leave out ("may") and insert ("shall").
§ After Clause 17, page 12, insert the following now clauses:
§ Amendment of section 5 of principal Act.
§ (".Section five of the principal Act (Electricity districts) shall have effect as if after the word 'authority,' in subsection (2) of that section, there had been inserted the words or other body.'")
§ Amendment of section 6 of principal Act.
§ (". Section six of the principal Act shall have effect as if after the word 'interests' in subsection (1) of that section there had been inserted the words ('including the persons employed in connection with the supply of electricity'), and as if after the words electricity 1008 district' where they last occur in that subsection there had been inserted the words and the conditions of employment of persons employed by the Joint Electricity Authority.'")
§ Clause 18, page 12, line 18, leave out ("arrangements") and insert ("arrangement")
§ Clause 18, page 12, line 22, at end insert:
§ ("(2) The Minister of Labour may make rules as to the procedure before the referee or board of referees under the said section sixteen and may by those rules provide—
- (a) for limiting the amount of costs and providing for the taxation thereof;
- (b) for fixing the fees to be paid to the referee or members of the board of referees and for determining by whom such fees are to be paid.")
§ Clause 19, page 12, line 25, after ("undertakers") insert ("is hereby repealed, and such repeal shall apply to that schedule")
§ Clause 19, page 12, line 27, leave out from the beginning to ("and") in line 28, and insert ("before the passing of this Act")
§ Clause 19, page 12, line 30, after ("1899") insert ("or incorporates it subject to an exception of the said subsection")
§ Clause 19, page 13, line 3, after ("1899") insert ("or incorporates it subject to an exception of the said section thirty-two")
§ Clause 19, page 13, line 17, leave out ("price") and insert ("cost").
§ Clause 20, page 13, leave out Clause 20 and insert the following new clauses:
§ Standby supplies of electricity.
§ (". Notwithstanding anything in the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1882 to 1919, or in this Act, or in any other Act of Parliament, or any Provisional Order or special order made under any such Act, a person shall not be entitled to demand or continue to receive for the purpose of a standby supply only from any authorised undertakers a supply of electricity for any premises having a separate supply of electricity or a supply (in use or ready for use for the purposes for which the standby supply of electricity is required) of gas, steam, or other form of energy unless he has agreed with the undertakers to pay to them such minimum annual sum as will give them a reasonable return on the capital expenditure incurred by them in providing such standby supply and will cover other standing charges incurred by them in order to meet the possible maximum demand for those premises. The sum to be so paid shall be determined in default of agreement by arbitration.
§ (2) Section fifteen of the Electric Lighting Act, 1909, is repealed.")
§ Provision as to railways, &c.
§ (". Notwithstanding anything contained in any Act or order electricity supplied by a joint electricity authority or power company within their district to any company or authority being the owners or lessees of a railway, tramway, dock, harbour or canal undertaking may be used by the company or authority receiving the supply for the purposes of haulage or traction or for lighting vehicles or vessels used on the railway, tramway, dock, harbour or canal on any part of the system of such company or authority.")
§ Clause 21, page 14, line 11, leave out ("nor") and insert ("who before giving their consent to 1009 a supply to any consumer shall have regard to the interests of any undertakers (other than electrical undertakers) who may be affected thereby, or")
§ Clause 21, page 14, line 12, leave out ("they") and insert ("the Commissioners")
§ Clause 21, page 14, line 23, after ("station") insert (",or of any generating station erected under statutory authority for the purpose of working tramways or light railways")
§ Clause 21, page 14, line 27, after ("the") insert ("Schedule to the")
§ Clause 21, page 14, line 36, after ("owners") insert ("or lessees").
§ After Clause 23, page 15, insert the following now clause:
§ Expenses of London County Council.
§ (". Any expense incurred by the London County Council under or in pursuance of this Act or the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1882 to 1919, shall be defrayed as expenses for general county purposes.")
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (VISCOUNT PEEL)My Lords, I beg to move that the Commons Amendments be agreed to, and, if your Lordships would consent, I would move them en bloc, because the great bulk of them are drafting Amendments, while others which are not of the nature of drafting Amendments have been agreed to by the different interests concerned. I do not think there is any controversy remaining on any of those points.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(Viscount Peel.)
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI quite agree that, so far as the drafting Amendments are concerned, the noble Viscount is pursuing a very proper course, but to move substantial Amendments en bloc is rather a strong measure, because I think your Lordships have a right to know what you are doing. I have no objection to offer to the Amendments myself. I have been advised as to what they contain, and I do not desire to call them in question. Therefore, I leave that in the hands of the noble Viscount, who is at least as much interested in preserving the proper procedure of your Lordships' House as I am. If he thinks the matter is of no great importance I shall not oppose him.
§ VISCOUNT PEELI cannot say that any of these Amendments are of any great importance; they just smooth odd corners.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.