HC Deb 31 January 1963 vol 670 cc211-2W
41. Mr. T. Fraser

asked the Minister of Power if he will make a statement about the position of supply and demand in electricity.

Mr. Wood

The highest demand met by the public electricity supply system during the prolonged cold spell this winter was 29,500 MW, 9 per cent. higher than last year. The highest potential demand on the Generating Board's system was estimated at about 32,000 MW. The gap between supply and demand was accentuated by the work-to-rule in the first three weeks of January. The difficulties at the end of last week were caused mainly by failures on the transmission system. The industry plans to speed up the installation of new plant, to strengthen the transmission and distribution networks, and to instal peak load gas turbine generators, which can be built more quickly than large generating stations.