§ Mr. Llewellynasked the Minister of Fuel and Power on what date permissive approval was given to the principle that the number of rooms in a house should form a basis for the assessment of electricity charges, even though some of the rooms are not fitted for electricity.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydIn February, 1951, my predecessor approved general principles for the standardisation and simplification of methods of charge which had been drawn up by a Committee of the Electricity Boards. These principles included a recommendation that for the domestic tariff the number of rooms should be generally adopted as the basis of assessment, the Boards being left to adopt standard definitions for the determination of assessable rooms. Where, however, local circumstances made it desirable the boards would have discretion to adopt the floor area as the basis of assessment. These bases of assessment had, in fact, been in common use for many years by electricity undertakings.