HC Deb 02 April 1962 vol 657 cc29-30
46. Mr. Skeet

asked the Minister of Power whether he will consider investigating methods which would enable gas and electricity meters to be read by one reader on behalf of the two nationalised corporations instead of by readers by the two authorities independently thus providing a saving in costs.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Power (Mr. J. C. George)

No, Sir. The Weir Committee on cooperation between Electricity and Gas Boards reported that joint meter reading would not be justified on grounds of efficiency and economy.

Mr. Skeet

Can my hon. Friend state the number of meter readers in the two authorities concerned? Is it not bureaucratic to have two separate divisions running this system when one could do the job? Would not he agree that the London Electricity Board is making one reading a year, and would there not be ample time in which to collect the necessary information and hand it to the other authority concerned?

Mr. George

This very responsible Committee spent much time in studying this matter and was assisted by the advice of a firm of independent consultants. It did not take the view of my hon. Friend, that it was a case of two staffs doing a job that one could do. It took the opposite view and said that the Board should be left to organise its affairs in the best interests of efficiency and economy, and it so reported.

Mr. Bellenger

Does not the Minister know that in the case of local authorities information is often given by one committee to another, so that if a road is to be taken up for one purpose the gas people and the electricity people can do their work simultaneously? Does not the Minister know of the difficulty of getting into flats in London when the occupants are out all day? Would it not be in the interests of those occupants, at least—quite apart from bureaucratic interests—if one man did the two jobs at the same time?

Mr. George

I repeat that this Committee studied this question very thoroughly. One of its suggestions, in respect of the situation referred to by the hon. Member, was that the tenant should be allowed to send in an estimate of his consumption by postcard, or that the authorities should estimate the consumption themselves. That is being done in many cases.