§ 34. Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will require the Central Electricity Generating Board to publish in its annual reports the average delivered price paid for heavy fuel oil, for other types of oil used for burning, and for natural gas during each of the last seven years, and state the current average delivered prices for these fuels.
§ Mr. Tom BoardmanNo; the price paid by the CEGB for its fuels is essentially a commercial matter between the board and its suppliers, but some information on average prices paid by the electricity industry as a whole is available in Tables 92 and 107 of the Department's Digest of Energy Statistics, 1972.
§ 43. Sir G. Nabarroasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made for increased coal consumption at power stations during 1974 to 1979; what additional coal-fired power stations he has authorised for completion before 1979; what will be their consumption of bituminous coal; and what estimate he has made of power generation, respectively, from coal, from oil, from nuclear power and from hydroelectric sources per centum, in each case, by 1979.
§ Mr. Tom BoardmanThe absolute consumption or percentage share of coal or of other fuels in power generation depends on unpredictable factors such as the relative prices of coal and oil and the future demand for electricity. However, for the year 1973–74 I expect that some 75 million tons of coal will be burned in power stations, of which some 8 million tons will be attributable to the special arrangements for extra coal burn228W recently agreed between the NCB and the generating boards.
With regard to additional authorisations for coal-fired stations, there is nothing to add to the details listed in the reply given by my hon. Friend on 24th April 1972.