§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Minister of Technology if he will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the average cost in pence per kilowatt hour of 280W energy supplied to domestic consumers in each of the last ten years for coal, gas oil and electricity; and how the increase over this period in each case compares with the rise in the index of retail prices.
§ Mr. Harold LeverIn the following table costs are measured in terms of the energy content of fuels as supplied to consumers. The wide variations in the efficiencies with which the different fuels are used are not taken into account and the figures do not therefore show the cost of the useful heat obtained by individual consumers.
AVERAGE REVENUES OR PRICES OF SELECTED DOMESTIC FUELS IN THE UNTTED KINGDOM Coal Gas Oil Electricity in pence per kilowatt hour or kilowatt hour equivalent 1959 0.233 0.851 0.550 1.689 1960 0.242 0.883 0.545 1.632 1961 0.256 0.918 0.578 1.638 1962 0.276 0.920 0.607 1.669 1963 0.287 0.921 0.615 1.707 1964 0.293 0.903 0.615 1.786 1965 0.303 0.876 0.617 1.853 1966 0.334 0.874 0.618 1.908 1967 0.347 0.846 0.630 1.890 1968 0.360 0.899 0.652 2.130 Percentage change 1959–1968 +55 +6 +19 +26 The increase in the Index of Retail Prices (all items) over this period was 34 per cent.
Notes:
Coal—Estimated average retail prices.
Gas—Average revenues (reference Table 67, Ministry of Power Digest of Energy Statistics: 1968 and 1969, and corresponding tables in earlier editions) for financial years ending in March of the following years. The figure for 1968–69 includes an estimate for Northern Ireland.
Oil—Estimated typical retail prices of premium grade Kerosene.
Electricity—Average revenues (reference Table 80, Ministry of Power Digest of Energy Statistics: 1968 and 1969, and corresponding tables in previous editions). The figure for 1968 includes an estimate for Northern Ireland.