HC Deb 22 December 1919 vol 123 cc1131-2

Notwithstanding anything in any special Act or Order in force at the passing of this Act, it shall not be lawful for any authority, company, or person to establish a new or extend an existing generating station or main transmission line without the consent of the Electricity Commissioners, which consent shall not be refused or made subject to compliance with conditions to which the authority, company, or person object, unless a local inquiry has been held, but this restriction shall not apply to the establishment or extension of a private generating station provided that in the case of the establishment of a new private generating station the owner thereof shall comply with any Regulations made by the Electricity Commissioners as to the type of current, frequency, and pressure to be used; but such Regulations shall be so framed as not to interfere with the economical and efficient working of the business for which the supply is generated: Provided that, in the case of a railway company using or proposing to use electricity for traction, and in the case of the owners of a dock undertaking regulated by Act of Parliament using or proposing to use electricity for the pur- poses of their undertaking, consent shall not be refused unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the Electricity Commissioners that a district electricity board or authorised undertakers are or will be willing and in a position to give the railway company or owners a supply of electricity, adequate in quantity and regularity to meet the present and prospective demand of the railway company or owners, at a cost not greater than would have been incurred by the railway company or owners in supplying themelves: Provided also that—

  1. (a) where a group of persons carrying on or intending to carry on businesses in which large quantities of electricity are used for purposes other than for provision of mechanical power or light propose to establish a generating station for the purposes of such businesses;
  2. (b) where a manufacturer having a business in which electricity can be generated from energy derived from a process of manufacture carried on in his premises proposes to establish a generating station for the purpose of supplying electricity not only for his own business but also to other manufacturers whose businesses are associated therewith;
the Electricity Commissioners may authorise the establishment by or on behalf of those consumers or that manufacturer of generating station, subject to the condition that any surplus electricity generated beyond that required by those consumers or, as the case may be, by the business of that manufacturer or the associated businesses shall (if required by the Electricity Commissioners) be supplied to the district electricity board, or ally authorised undertakers, at such prices as the Electricity Commissioners may think lit and proper, and may by Order authorise the exercise of such other powers (including the breaking up of roads, railways, and tramways) as may be necessary for the purpose of such supply, and the generating station shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as though it were a private generating station.

Lords Amendments: Leave out the words "district electricity board," and insert instead thereof the words "joint electricity authority" [twice].—Agreed to.