§ Mr. Spellerasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list electricity prices (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in France for (i) domestic and (ii) industrial consumers.
§ Mr. Goodlad[pursuant to his reply, 26 January 1987, c. 58]: A wide range of tariffs is available in both the United Kingdom and France. It is not, therefore, practicable to specify all the prices that a consumer may pay. Moreover, any direct comparison is strongly influenced by the prevailing exchange rate. The Electricity Council's latest estimates for a typical domestic consumer on a standard tariff and for an average industrial consumer are shown in the table below. French prices for domestic consumers include the effects of VAT and local taxes, which are not payable in the United Kingdom. I understand that where customers in France are prepared to suffer substantial amounts of load reduction during 18 designated hours on each of 22 days significant discounts are available.
Average price per unit Domestic (3,300 units per annum including standing charge) Industrial (2½ MW maximum demand at 50 per cent. load factor) England and Wales (pence/kwh) 6.28 3.75 France (francs/kwh) 0.733–0.792 0.365