§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the current amount of money owed by consumers to the Northern Ireland Electricity Service; how this compares with the level of public debt for each of the last six years; what is the extent of the interest paid by the Northern Ireland Electricity Service on money borrowed to offset this public debt; if any of the cost of this interest or of the debt is passed on to the consumer in Northern Ireland; and, if so, how much.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw[pursuant to his reply, 17 April 1980, c. 724–25]: The amount of debt on 31 March 1980, together with comparable figures for the previous five years and the Northern Ireland Electricity Service's estimate of the associated interest, is as follows:
£m. Year ending 31 March Amount of debt Interest 1975 … … 4.1 0.387 1976 … … 5.6 0.504 1977 … … 8.3 0.734 1978 … … 12.5 1.094 1979 … … 11.9 1.069 1980 … … 11.7 1.272 Information is not available on a comparable basis for earlier years. The cost of financing the debt has at no time been passed on to electricity consumers.