§ 5. Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that the load factor of publicly-owned electric power houses has fallen from 47.1 per cent. in 1950–51 to 44.7 per cent. in 1952–53 and 43.9 per cent. in 1953–54; and as this reflects a decline in occupational efficiency of valuable national assets at a time of rising general industrial productivity, what regard he is having to these trends when sanctioning new power house constructional programmes of the British Electricity Authority.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydThe relatively high load factor in 1950–51 was achieved only by the use of old plant and resort to load shedding. The load factor has fallen since then because the B.E.A. has installed enough new capacity to avoid load shedding, reduce its reliance on old plant and thus raise the efficiency of the system. The efforts of the B.E.A. to diversify the load, however, should lead in future years, as the development programmes to which I recently gave my general approval are carried out, to a steady improvement in the load factor.