Electricity (Supply) Act 1926
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1926 c. 51 |
| Year | 1926 |
Electricity (Supply) Act, 1926
(16 & 17 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 51.
An Act to amend the law with respect to the supply of electricity.
[15th December 1926]
Be it enacted by the King'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:—
Electricity Board.
Electricity Board.
1 Constitution of Central Electricity Board.
(1) For the purposes of this Act there shall be established as soon as may be after the passing of this of Act a body to be called the Central Electricity Board (in this Act referred to as the Board), consisting of a chairman and seven other members appointed by the Minister of Transport after consultation with such representatives or bodies representative of the following interests as the Minister thinks fit, that is to say, local government, electricity, commerce, industry, transport, agriculture, and labour.
(2) A person shall be disqualified for being appointed or being chairman or a member of the Board so long as he is a Member of the Commons House of Parliament.
(3) The chairman of the Board and any member of the Board who is, by the terms of his appointment, required to devote the whole of his time to the performance of his duties under this Act shall, within three months after his appointment, sell any securities which he may hold in his own name or in the name of a nominee for his own benefit in any company carrying on the business of supplying electricity or the manufacture or sale of machinery or plant for the generation or transmission of electricity; and it shall not be lawful for the chairman or any such member of the Board whilst he holds office to purchase for his own benefit any securities in any such company, and if the chairman or any such member of the Board under any will or succession becomes entitled for his own benefit to any securities in any such company, he shall sell them within three months after he has so become entitled thereto.
(4) Any member of the Board shall, if he is interested in any company with which the Board has or proposes to make any contract, disclose to the Board the fact and nature of his interest, and shall take no part in any deliberation or decision of the Board relating to such contract, and such disclosure shall be forthwith recorded in the minutes of the Board.
(5) Where the chairman or other member of the Board becomes disqualified for holding office or is absent from the meetings of the Board for more than six months consecutively, except for some reason approved by the Minister of Transport, or fails to comply with the foregoing provisions of this section, the Minister of Transport shall forthwith declare the office to be vacant, and shall notify the fact in such manner as he thinks fit, and thereupon the office shall become vacant.
(6) The Board shall be a body corporate with power to hold land without licence in mortmain and shall have power to regulate their own procedure:
Provided that the quorum of the Board shall not be less than one-third of the full number of the Board.
(7) The Board may act notwithstanding a vacancy in their number.
(8) A person appointed to be the chairman or to be a member of the Board shall hold office for such term not less than five years nor more than ten years as may be determined by the Minister before his appointment.
(9) The Board shall appoint a secretary and such other officers and servants as the Board may determine, and there shall be paid out of the fund hereinafter established to the members of the Board, or any of them, such salaries or fees and allowances for expenses as the Minister of Transport may determine, and to the secretary, officers and servants of the Board such salaries and remuneration, and, on retirement or death, such pensions and gratuities, as the Board may determine; and any expenses incurred by the Board in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties under this Act shall be defrayed out of the said fund.
(10) The Board shall have a common seal, and the seal of the Board shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman of the Board or some other member of the Board authorised by the Board to act in that behalf, and of the secretary, or some other person authorised by the Board to act in that behalf.
(11) Every document purporting to be an order or other instrument issued by the Board and to be sealed with the seal of the Board authenticated in manner provided by this section, or to be signed by the secretary or any person authorised to act in that behalf, shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such order or instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown.
2 General powers and duties of Board.
(1) The Board shall be charged with the duty of supplying electricity to authorised undertakers in accordance with the provisions of this Act, but shall not, save as hereinafter expressly provided, themselves generate electricity, and the Board shall have such further powers and duties as are provided by this Act.
(2) It shall be lawful for the Board to enter into arrangements with any authorised undertakers for the delegation to them of any of the powers of the Board under this Act which the Board think can more expediently be exercised locally.
(3) Where proposals are made to the Board by any association of owners of generating stations which, by virtue of this Act, become selected stations within an area for which a scheme has been adopted under this Act for the delegation to the association of any powers and duties of the Board within that area, then, if the Board are satisfied that the association making the proposals is a fit and proper body to carry out those powers and duties, the Board shall comply with the proposals if and so far as they consider it practicable to do so without prejudice to the efficient discharge of the general duties of the Board, or to the efficient execution of the scheme within the area, but subject to such conditions as the Board may think fit to impose.
(4) The Board shall not delegate any of their powers with respect to selected stations without the consent of the owners of those stations, nor shall they delegate their power of adopting schemes or fixing a tariff under this Act.
3 Appointment of consultative technical committees.
(1) The Board may appoint one or more consultative technical committees consisting of engineers employed in connection with undertakings comprising generating stations which are by virtue of this Act for the time being selected stations.
(2) A consultative technical committee shall give advice and assistance on such matters as may be referred to the committee by the Board, and for that purpose the committee shall meet from time to time as the Board may determine.
Provisions as to Scheme.
Provisions as to Scheme.
4 Preparation and carrying out of scheme.
(1) The Electricity Commissioners shall, as soon as practicable, prepare and transmit to the Board a scheme or schemes relating to the respective areas specified therein—
(a ) determining what generating stations (whether existing stations or new stations) shall be the stations (in this Act referred to as selected stations) at which electricity shall be generated for the purposes of the Board;
(b ) providing for interconnection, by means of main transmission lines to be constructed or acquired by the Board, of selected stations with one another and with the systems of authorised undertakers, and, where the scheme relates to a specified area, for interconnection by means of such lines of the system of the Board in that area with the system of the Board in any other area with respect to which a scheme is then in force or may subsequently be made;
(c ) providing for such standardisation of frequency as may be essential to the carrying out of the proposals for such interconnection as aforesaid;
(d ) enabling or requiring temporary arrangements (to be in force during the carrying out of the works specified in the scheme) to be made between the Board and owners of generating stations (whether authorised undertakers or not) with respect to the giving and taking to and by the Board of supplies of electricity, and with respect to the working of generating stations (whether selected stations or not) by the owners thereof;
(e ) containing such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions as may appear necessary or expedient for any of the purposes aforesaid:
Provided that neither a railway generating station operated by a railway company at the date of the passing of this Act, nor a generating station belonging to any canal, inland navigation, dock or harbour undertakers, and operated by the owners thereof at the date of the passing of this Act, nor a private generating station, shall, without the consent of the owners thereof, be included in the scheme as a selected station, nor shall the owners of such a station be required to enter into any temporary arrangements under a scheme, and a scheme shall not authorise the acquisition of a main transmission line belonging to any such undertakers or the owners of a private generating station without the consent of the owners thereof.
(2) The Board shall cause every scheme to be published, and shall give public notice of the date (not being less than one month from the date of the notice) by which authorised undertakers and other persons interested may make representations thereon, and the Board after considering the scheme and such representations, and after holding such inquiries (if any) as they think fit, may adopt the scheme either without modifications, or subject to such modifications as they...
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