HC Deb 16 December 1977 vol 941 c528W
Dr. Hampson

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish a table showing the percentage of households served by gas and electricity over the previous 10 years.

Mr. Eadie

It is regretted that complete and precise figures are not available. However estimates—which are subject to sampling variation—for the past nine years obtained from approximately 7,000 respondent households in the Family Expenditure Survey are given in the following table:

ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, SERVED BY THE PUBLIC SUPPLY INDUSTRY
Gas Per cent. Electricity Per cent.
1968 64.8 99.1
1969 64.9 99.3
1970 64.6 99.6
1971 63.6 99.7
1972 64.6 99.5
1973 66.0 99.7
1974 64.3 99.7
1975 64.1 99.7
1976 65.0 99.8

It is estimated that, in addition, about 19 per cent. of households in Great Britain are currently within the gas supply area but not using gas.