§ Mr. Forthasked the Secretary of State for Energy what response has been made to the report by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on the revenue collection systems of four area electricity boards; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GoodladI have received from the Electricity Council a single response to the report of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission published earlier this year on the revenue collection systems of the East Midlands, South Eastern, North Eastern and South Western area electricity boards. Copies of the response have been placed in the Library.
The commission concluded that none of the four boards it examined is pursuing a course of conduct against the public interest. Flowing from its central finding that there are significant variations between boards in the practices and procedures used for revenue collection, the MMC recommended that these differences should be systematically identified and analysed on an industry-wide basis to facilitate standardisation on best practice. The response indicates that this industry-wide exercise will be undertaken and that boards will continue their efforts to adopt beneficial standard practices. The industry has also recognised the desirability of greater consistency in the application of performance indicators to revenue collection.
The report covers a range of administrative issues relevant to all area boards; the assessment of and co-ordination of appropriate action on the recommendations is taking place. I hope that the council will be able to report substantive progress on a number of issues in the second response due early next year and I shall make a further statement then.