Fuel and Power Industries

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 26 October 1953.

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Photo of Sir Gerald Nabarro Sir Gerald Nabarro , Kidderminster 12:00, 26 October 1953

Perhaps the hon. Member will stop shouting at me. No doubt it was attributable to the fact that in the early part of the year under review there was a recession in the textile trade. Also it is the fact that the load factor of British Electricity Authority power stations declined in the year under review. In an industry employing more than £1,000 million of capital, should there be a decline in the load factor it means as a concomitant that the capital employed in the industry is less effectively employed, and for the first time in many years the load factor of the British Electricity Authority showed a substantial decline last year. It had previously been going steadily upwards. It had reached a figure of 51 per cent. in 1951–52 but declined by 5 per cent. in the year now under review, 1952–53. Will my right hon. Friend or the Parliamentary Secretary tell me at the end of the debate why their capital and their plant was less effectively employed, because this is a most grave figure in the Report of the British Electricity Authority.

I do not praise everything which the nationalised industries do. The British Electricity Authority turn out this magnificently documented volume of hundreds of thousands of words each year representing their Annual Report and all that it really consists of is scratching themselves on the back and telling Members of Parliament what a frightfully good business body they are, that they have done everything perfectly and there is no cause for criticism. I was sorry that my right hon. Friend similarly could find no cause for criticism.

It is significant in this matter of load factor that during the four years while the load factor was rising the British Electricity Authority put that fact into their summary in the front of their Annual Report; but this year, when the load factor has fallen, did they put that in the front of the Report. Oh, no. They did not put it in a prominent position, but tucked it away in the body of the Report, where no one could find it.