Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act 1954
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1954 c. 60 |
| Year | 1954 |
Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act , 1954
(2 & 3 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 60
An Act to transfer the functions of the Minister of Fuel and Power in Scotland in relation to electricity to the Secretary of State; to establish the South of Scotland Electricity Board; to transfer the functions of the British Electricity Authority in the south of Scotland and of the Scottish Area Boards to that Board; to amend the Hydro-Electric Development (Scotland) Act, 1943; and for purposes connected therewith.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Reorganisation
1 Transfer of the functions of the Minister of Fuel and Power to the Secretary of State.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, on the vesting date there shall be transferred to the Secretary of State the functions of the Minister so far as they relate to the generation and supply of electricity in Scotland and matters connected therewith, and the giving of consents in relation to such functions under the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1882 to 1926, or under the Act of 1947 (including any enactment incorporated therewith) or under regulations made under any of those enactments.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, on the vesting date there shall be transferred to the Secretary of State the functions of the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly under the Act of 1943, and, so far as they relate exclusively to Scotland, the functions of the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly under the Act of 1947.
(3) On the vesting date the functions of the Minister in relation to the making of regulations under section four of the Electric Lighting Act, 1888, and under section sixty of the Act of 1947 (which empower the Minister to make regulations relating to safety and the efficiency of supply of electricity) shall be transferred to the Secretary of State and the Minister acting jointly.
(4) Nothing in the provisions of this section shall affect the functions of the Minister under the Schedule to the Electric Lighting (Clauses) Act, 1899, as incorporated with the Act of 1947, so far as that Schedule relates to the certification of meters and the measurement of electricity, or under the Electricity Supply (Meters) Act, 1936.
2 Establishment and functions of South of Scotland Electricity Board.
(1) There shall be established a public authority for the district (hereinafter referred to as the South of Scotland District) comprising the areas of the South East Scotland Electricity Board and the South West Scotland Electricity Board immediately before the coming into operation of this Act to be known as the South of Scotland Electricity Board (in this Act referred to as the South of Scotland Board), and consisting of persons appointed in accordance with the First Schedule to the Act of 1943.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the South of Scotland Board, as from the vesting date, shall have in relation to the South of Scotland District the like functions as the North of Scotland Board have in relation to the North of Scotland District, and in so far as those functions immediately before that date are functions of the Central Authority in relation to the District first-mentioned, or of the South East Scotland or South West Scotland Electricity Board, they shall be transferred to the South of Scotland Board.
3 Termination of the functions of the Central Authority in the North of Scotland District and dissolution of the Scottish Area Boards.
(1) The Central Authority's functions under the provisions of subsections (3) and (4) of section five of the Act of 1943 (which relate to the approval of constructional schemes prepared by the North of Scotland Board) shall cease.
(2) On the vesting date the South East Scotland Electricity Board and the South West Scotland Electricity Board and the Consultative Councils established for the respective areas of those Boards shall cease to exist.
(3) The South of Scotland Board so far as necessary for their completion and submission shall be responsible—
(a ) for the reports of the South East Scotland Electricity Board and the South West Scotland Electricity Board in relation to the year 1954-55; and
(b ) for the accounts and audit of the aforesaid Boards for the said year;
and in respect of the said reports and the said accounts and audit the provisions of sections eight and forty-six of the Act of 1947 shall respectively apply to the South of Scotland Board in like manner as those sections applied to the South East Scotland and South West Scotland Electricity Boards before the vesting date.
Part II
Transfers of Undertakings
4 Transfers of assets and liabilities of Scottish Area Boards.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, all property, rights, liabilities and obligations which immediately before the vesting date were property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the South East Scotland and South West Scotland Electricity Boards, shall, on that date by virtue of this Act and without further assurance, be transferred to the South of Scotland Board.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, every agreement to which either of the said Area Boards were a party immediately before the vesting date, whether in writing or not and whether or not of such a nature that rights, liabilities and obligations thereunder could be assigned by the Area Board, shall, unless its terms or subject matter make it impossible that it should have effect as modified in the manner provided by this subsection, have effect as from the vesting date as if—
(a ) the South of Scotland Board had been a party to the agreement;
(b ) for any reference (however worded and whether express or implied) to either of the said Area Boards there were substituted, as respects anything falling to be done on or after the vesting date, a reference to the South of Scotland Board;
(c ) for any reference (however worded and whether express or implied) to any member or officer of either of the said Area Boards there were substituted, as respects anything falling to be done on or after the vesting date, a reference to such person as the South of Scotland Board may appoint, or, in default of appointment, to the member or officer of the Board who corresponds as nearly as may be to the first-mentioned member or officer; and
(d ) in the case of an agreement for the rendering of personal services to either of the said Area Boards, the services to which the agreement relates were, on and after the vesting date, any services under the South of Scotland Board, to be selected by that Board, which are reasonably equivalent services.
(3) Other documents, not being enactments, which refer, whether specifically or generally, to either of the said Area Boards shall be construed in accordance with the provisions of the last foregoing subsection, so far as applicable.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this section, where, by the operation of any of the said provisions, any right, liability or obligation vests in the South of Scotland Board, the Board and all other persons shall, as from the vesting date, have the same rights, powers and remedies (and in particular the same rights as to the taking or resisting of legal proceedings or the making or resisting of applications to any authority) for ascertaining, perfecting or enforcing that right, liability or obligation as they would have had if it had at all times been a right, liability or obligation of the Board, and any legal proceedings or applications to any authority pending on the vesting date by or against either of the said Area Boards, in so far as they relate to any property, right, liability or obligation vested in the South of Scotland Board by virtue of this Act, or to any agreement or document which has effect in accordance with subsection (2) or subsection (3) of this section, or to any enactment applied to the Board by or under this Act, shall be continued by or against the Board to the exclusion of the Area Board.
(5) The Secretary of State may make regulations for the registration of the title of the South of Scotland Board to assets vesting in them by virtue of this Act, being assets of a kind subject to provisions for the registration of title thereto, for the completion of the title of the Board to heritable property vesting as aforesaid, and for any other matters for which provision appears to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient for securing the effective transfer of any assets vesting in the Board by virtue of this Act.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in this section no right, liability or obligation under any agreement for the rendering by any person of services to either of the said Area Boards as a member of that Board shall be transferred to the South of Scotland Board, except any liability in respect of fees earned or expenses incurred before the vesting date.
5 Transfer of Central Authority's undertaking in Scotland.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, there shall on the vesting date be transferred by virtue of this Act and without further assurance to the South of Scotland Board all land in Scotland, and rights in, on or over such land, and all installations, plant, stores and equipment in Scotland which immediately...
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