GAS AND ELECTRICITY (RESALE) (Hansard, 18 March 1964)

§ Mr. Neil Carmichael (Glasgow, Woodside)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to control the price at which gas and electricity may be resold in houses in multiple occupation and elsewhere; and for purposes connected therewith. The need for some control of the resale price of gas and electricity has been apparent to many hon. Members on both sides of the House for some time. My hon. Friend the Member for Dorset, South (Mr. Barnett) has raised at Question Time the charges made to permanent caravan dwellers. I have had many complaints from constituents and I have personally examined a number of meters in rooms rented by old people and found the meters set at a point which forced those people to pay very high prices for heating and cooking. Perhaps the House will permit me to explain the system of resale of gas and electricity.

In the type of dwelling I speak of the area supply authority installs one meter only. This is owned by the supply authority and all supplies going to the premises must pass through this meter. The supply authority reads only this meter and renders an account to the owner of the property on the figures deduced from that reading. The owner of the property, however, may have anything up to 20 tenants living in single rooms in his house and in each room he has a meter installed.

This meter is his property and it is referred to in most districts as a check meter. The owner of the property holds the key to this meter and may set it to give only as much gas or electric current as he wishes. Usually, the meter rates are kept very low, so that the owner may be paying only a little over 1d. a unit for electricity to the supply authority although he frequently charges as high as 5d. or 6d. a unit to the tenant.

I have had letters from students who spend 5s. or 6s. every day on electricity, making a weekly fuel bill for one room of anything from 30s. to £2. The owner has bought his power for about 10s per room, so he is making a tax free profit of from £1 to £1 10s. A 1394 bath for these students costs about 3s. or 3s. 6d. The same method is used with gas meters.

Many old people I have visited have to find 30s. or more each week to keep one room at a temperature reasonable for old people, and they generally require more heat than young people. National Assistance Board officers are quite well aware of this problem and do all they can within the rules to try to meet the needs of old people for extra heat.

There are difficulties in arriving at a suitable charge, but I am sure that the House does not want those difficulties to be solved at the expense of the rather more unprotected sections of the community. The gas and electricity boards have very complicated tariff structures. The owner has to buy check meters and also fire and cooking appliances for the rooms. These difficulties I fully appreciate, but they must be overcome if this abuse, which causes severe financial hardship to many people, is to be stopped.

The problem of the tariff structure of the boards can, I believe, be reasonably easily overcome by a provision that each time the boards issue new tariff structures they should include an extra amount for which gas or electricity shall be resold through a check meter. This could be done quite simply by allowing about a 25 per cent. increase on the basic cost of the commodity as it enters the main meter of the house—25 per cent. on the principal low rate charge through the principal meter.

If the owner of the property wanted to do so he could offset this more expensive tariff by an extra charge of 6d. or 9d. per week per room, which would enable him to recoup his outgoings. The same procedure could be used for the purchase, of new equipment for heating and cooking appliances. Why should tenant after tenant continue to pay for appliances, perhaps 10 years after they have been bought? An increase of 10s. a week would amply repay the owner. Then the tenant would at least know where he stood. He might be paying 3s. or 4s. a week more in rent, but he would be saving about 30s. a week which is at present taken from him by stealth.

1395 Responsibility for the proper setting of the meter must be that of the person letting the premises. It must be his job to set the meter at the correct setting. He must give the tenant fair value for money obtained by direct consumers. This is a problem which can be solved and I hope that the House will allow me to introduce my Bill. It would, I believe, provide a fair and reasonable solution.