§ Mr. LYLEasked the Minister of Health if his advisers are now able to make any statement on the financial effect to the public of the new system of charging for gas according to therms instead of the old cubic feet capacity; whether the gas companies have benefited enormously; and whether the results correspond to his expectations?
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§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONI have been asked to answer this question. The system of charging for gas according to therms ensures that the consumer only pays for the actual number of heat units contained in the gas supplied to him, and is a measure of protection to the public. There is no financial advantage to the suppliers of gas in this method of charge. Any such advantage which has accrued to gas companies is due, not to charging by the therm, but to the fact that their standard or maximum prices have been revised in compliance with the Gas Regulation Act, 1920, with the result that in many cases their dividends now approximate to those paid before the War. At the same time, where the sliding scale has been in abeyance owing to war conditions, it has again been put in operation so that the dividends will once more be subject to fluctuations according to any reduction or increase in the price of gas.