§ 24. Mr. WILMOTasked the Minister of Transport what were the values, as respects municipal authorised electrical undertakings on 1st January, 1934, of the total outstanding loan capital, average interest rate, and average loan periods; and what was the total capital expended up to that date for these municipal electricity undertakings?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAWith regard to the first part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer to a similar question asked by the hon. Member for North Hammersmith (Mr. West) on 3rd April. With regard to the last part, the total capital expenditure at the end of 1932–33 by municipal electricity undertakings, including the undertakings of joint boards and joint electricity authorities, amounted to £244,179,000.
§ 25. Mr. WILMOTasked the Minister of Transport what were the total sums on 1st January, 1934, set aside by municipal authorities and company authorities for reserve funds, depreciation and maintenance and renewals funds, sinking funds, and sinking funds of local authorities for the purchase of company undertakings, respectively, and the total value of and the annual revenue from investments for the respective authorities?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAAs the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The latest compiled returns for 1932–33 show that the particulars desired by the hon. Member were as follows:
§ (i) In the case of municipal electricity undertakings (including the undertakings of joint boards and joint electricity authorities)—
| Depreciation, renewals and reserve funds | £10,413,940 |
| Sinking funds (including sinking funds in respect of money borrowed for the purchase of company undertakings) | £7,550,823 |
§ (ii) In the case of company under-takings—
| Depreciation, renewals, reserves and sinking funds | £31,583,845 |
§ (iii) The value 'of the investments of public authority and company undertakers cannot be definitely stated, but the revenue in 1932–33 from such investments was returned as—
| Public authorities | … | £565,995 |
| Companies | … | £888,798 |
§ 28. Mr. T. SMITHasked the Minister of Transport what is the approximate total connected load in kilowatts connected to non-standard voltage networks of all authorised undertakings not operating at the proposed standard voltage on 1st January, 1934; what percentage of the total connected load this represents; what would be the approximate total cost of converting these networks to the standard voltage; and what is the average rate of growth per annum in total kilowatts connected load of the non-standard connections?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThe official returns do not admit of an analysis of the kind desired by the hon. Member. At the end of 1932–33, about 75 per cent. of all the undertakings were giving supplies, either wholly or in part, at the proposed standard voltages.
§ 29. Mr. BANFIELD (for Mr. WEST)asked the Minister of Transport whether, in connection with the proposed arrangements for merging or amalgamating a number of electricity undertakings in the London area, he will take steps to ensure that any such arrangements include provisions in the interest of employés who might be found to be redundant?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThe new company formed to bring about a merger of interests is not an authorised undertaker within the meaning of the Electricity (Supply) Acts, and, therefore, I have no jurisdiction in the sense suggested.
§ 30. Mr. BANFIELD (for Mr. WEST)asked the Minister of Transport what is the total number of non-statutory generating stations, the total installed generating capacity since 1920, the total kilowatt hours generated by them for the year 1933, the total capital cost of those stations up to the year 1933, and the total number of employés engaged in stations of 0 to 3,000 kilowatt capacity, 3,000 to 10,000 kilowatt capacity, and 10,000 and above kilowatt capacity, respectively?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAI am not aware of any official statistics which cover the whole of the information asked for by the hon. Member, but the latest information available may be found in summarised form in Appendix "R" to the thirteenth annual report of the Electricity Commissioners.