§ Mr. Geoffrey Johnson Smithasked the Secretary of State for Energy what have been the effects of each of the miners' wage awards on electricity prices during the years 1970-80.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI am asking the chairman of the Electricity Council to write to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish a table showing the increase in the price of electricity charged to a typical industrial consumer in the United Kingdom, France and West Germany, from international sources available to him, in each of the last 10 years, to the latest convenient date.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, 4 December 1980]: In making international comparisons it must always be borne in mind that difficulties can arise in times of changing prices, currency exchange fluctuations and the proportion of individual markets covered. Figures may not always be comparable because of variations in the methods of collating data in each country.
The price of electricity to industrial consumers varies from region to region in most EEC countries and within regions prices vary according to consumption. It is, therefore, difficult to select any load which would be generally regarded as typical. Moreover an international source of statistics on electricity prices to industry is not
390Wavailable on a consistent basis over the entire most recent 10-year period. The attached tables have been compiled from the limited data available.
Table 1 published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows the prices (inclusive of taxes) in the Federal Republic of Germany, France and the United Kingdom prevailing on 1 January 1970, 1971 and 1972 for an annual consumption of 4,000,000 Kwh.
Table 2 drawn from annual surveys by the Statistical Office of the European Community shows the prices (exclusive of VAT but inclusive of appropriate municipal taxes) at 1 January in each year since 1973 for an annual consumption of 1,250,000 Kwh with a load factor of about 30 per cent.
National currencies have been converted at exchange rates current on 1 January of each year.
Table 1 Electricity Prices (inclusive of Taxes) for Annual consumption of 4,000,000 Kwh F R Germany France United Kingdom P/Kwh 1 Jan 1970 0.847 0.626 0.699 1 Jan 1971 0.877 0.652 0.724 1 Jan 1972 1.000 0.679 0.775 Source: OECD Energy Statistics 1975–77
Table 2 Electricity Prices (excluding VAT) for Annual consumption of 1,250,000 Kwh & 30% load factor Dusseldorf Paris London P/Kwh 1 Jan 1973 1.370 0.962 0.992 1 Jan 1974 1.807 1.109 1.047 1 Jan 1975 2.266 1.561 1.427 1 Jan 1976 2.491 1.799 1.745 1 Jan 1977 3.412 2.201 2.092 1 Jan 1978 3.695 2.193 2.431 1 Jan 1979 4.074 2.534 2.625 1 Jan 1980 4.092 3.121 3.179 Source: SOEC "Electricity Prices"
§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list the comparative cost of one therm of gas and one unit of electricity between the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Norway; and if he will make this available in the Official Report.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, 24 November 1980]: The most recent information from official sources for European Community countries has been published by the Statistical Office of the European Communities and part of this was included in my reply to 391W the right hon. Member for Doncaster (Mr. Walker) on 31 July 1980. Comparable figures for Norway are not available.
The following table shows prices for gas and electricity based upon tariffs for the specified domestic and industrial consumption levels in London, Paris and Dusseldorf on 1 January 1980. Estimates have been made by the Electricity Council of industrial electricity tariffs in the European Community as at 1 October 1980. For consumers with 2.5 mW maximum demand 47 per cent. load factor, the estimates were as follows:
pence/kWh United Kingdom 2.82–3.46 France 2.52 Germany 2.89–3.47
Consumer Fuel Prices* Electricity January 1980 (pence/kWh) Domestic (including taxes) annual consumption Industrial (including taxes) annual consumption
600 kWhs 1,200 kWhs 3,500 kWhs 20,000 kWhs 50,000 kWhs 1,250,000 kWhs 10 million kWhs United Kingdom, London 6.47 4.98 3.49 1.99 4.45 3.18 2.78 France, Paris 8.83 6.46 5.21 3.80 5.15 3.17 3.13 Germany, Dusseldorf 9.11 6.76 4.77 2.63 n.a. 4.63 3.74
Gas (pence/therm) Domestic (including taxes) annual consumption Industrial (including taws) annual consumption 80 therms 800 therms 4,000 therms 4 million therms 40 million therms United Kingdom, London 31.7 19.7 24.5 ‡25.8 ‡19.9 France, Paris 80.2 45.0 35.6 †25.8–26.6 22.7 Germany, Dusseldorf 81.6 39.6 40.1 28.9–30.1 n.a. Source: Eurostat. * National currencies have been converted at exchange rates on or near the relevant date. †Prices vary depending upon load factor. ‡Prices are estimates for new contracts only and are based on related oil prices. The figures are therefore not on a comparable basis with those for Paris and Dusseldorf which are based on tariffs. The average price to large industrial consumers in the United Kingdom as a whole during the first quarter 1980 was about 16p/therm, and in the second quarter 19p/therm.