§ Mr. Alisonasked the Minister of Power what is the Gas Council's estimate of the total cost of converting consumer's appliances to the use of natural gas; when this estimate was first made; and what size of domestic gas load, in millions of therms per year, was assured as the basis for this estimate.
§ Mr. FreesonThe estimated cost of converting consumers' appliances, which was first made in the middle of last year, is about £400 million. This estimate is based on the overall costs of converting the appliances of the present nearly 13102W million consumers and not on the size of the domestic load. This cost should not be significantly affected by increases in the number of appliances since before approval by the Gas Council, new appliances must be convertible to use of natural gas by minor adjustments.