HC Deb 25 November 1919 vol 121 cc1745-7

(1) The Electricity Commissioners shall at the beginning of each financial year prepare an estimate of their receipts and expenditure, other than on account of loans under the last preceding Section, during the year, and submit it for approval by the Board of Trade.

(2) The Electricity Commissioners shall apportion the amount by which the estimated expenses so approved exceed the estimated receipts so approved amongst the several district electricity boards, joint electricity authorities, and authorised undertakers within the United Kingdom in proportion to the number of units of electricity generated by or on behalf of those boards, authorities, and undertakers respectively in the preceding year; and every such district board, authority, or undertaker shall, on demand from the Electricity Commissioners, pay to them as a contribution towards their expenses the sum so apportioned:

Provided that during the first live years after the passing of this Act the amount of such excess shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament, but such payments shall be treated as advances and shall be repaid, with interest at such rate us the Treasury may fix, by the Commissioners by equal annual instalments in the next three succeeding years.

Mr. WADDINGTON

I beg to move, to leave out Sub-section (2).

The object of this Amendment is to secure that the charge for the costs incurred by the Electricity Commissioners shall be a burden, not upon the undertakers, but upon Parliamentary funds. I think it opens up rather a new departure for a Government Department to put this expense upon the undertakers affected. The Board of Trade have been dealing for many years with electricity and the tramways. They have had expenses throughout that period, but it has never been suggested that those expenses should be divided up and paid by the local tramway authorities or the local electricity undertakers, and this seems to me to be an infringement of the principle of no taxation without representation. The Electricity Commissioners are going to incur certain charges. The local undertakers have no responsibility for those charges being incurred, and it does seem to me we ought not to put this charge on the various undertakers of the country. It is estimated that about £20,000 or £25,000 a year would be required. You are going to charge that on the units generated by or on behalf of the undertakers. There is a great difference between, units generated and units sold, and if you attempt to divide the charges amongst the 600 and odd undertakers you at once bring yourselves up against an injustice from that point of view. In order to make a careful calculation in dividing this money, you are going to establish a staff to look into the units generated by every station. They will have to dissect all these figures and then send down their precepts to the authorities, who, on their side, will have to check the figures. You are going to establish large clerical staffs to do something which is really a national charge, and if we could take the example of the India Bill, which we shall be discussing next week, it has been the custom to charge upon India the expenses of the India Office in this country. Now, it is recognised that it is not quite fair to India, and we are going to do away with that particular charge. Here we are going to establish a charge upon the local undertakers of this country for an expenditure over which they have no control—expenditure with which they may not agree, and expenditure which may, from their point of view, be entirely unnecessary. I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary will be able to agree to this Sub-section being deleted.

Mr. BALFOUR

I beg to second the Amendment.

Mr. BRIDGEMAN

I hope my hon. Friend will not press this Amendment. The intention under the Bill as it stands is that the electrical industry, and those who benefit by this Bill, shall pay the reasonable expenses of the Electricity Com missioners. We have heard a great deal about economy, and the Government have been very severely criticised. [HON. MEMBERS "They deserve it!"] If my hon. Friend opposite is going to support this Amendment, he will be responsible for imposing upon the Government an additional expense. The intention of the Bill, and, we believe, the effect of it, will be greatly to improve the provision of electricity in this country, and to cheapen it, and we think it is not fair that the country should be charged with the expense of it, but that those who benefit by it, whether the companies or the consumers, should bear the cost of the Electricity Commissioners.

Amendment negatived.

Amendment made: In Sub-section (2), leave out the word "five" ["first five years"] and insert instead thereof the word "two."— [Mr. Shortt.]