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Rh stations to its full capacity. The margin of power thus pressed into service was of great value in accelerating the output of munitions, and when the Ministry of Munitions was formed—in the spring of 1915—no special department to organize the supply of electric power was thought necessary. Within a few months evidence of the vital importance of electricity for almost every war demand had become so strong that a department was formed to deal with all electrical engineering questions. All proposals for the extension of generating stations and mains had to be brought before the Electric Power Supply Department of the Ministry, which issued priority certificates for those judged to be most urgent. The output of electrical manufacturing firms was likewise controlled, so that the production of both electric power and electric plant was centrally organized to meet the ever-increasing demand for current.

Between June 1914 and Oct. 31 1918 the plant capacity of 327 municipal undertakings rose from 705,000 kilowatts (K.W.) installed to 1,490,000 K.W. installed or on order, and of 230 company-owned power stations from 430,000 K.W. installed to 788,000 K.W. installed or on order. Thus the additional generating plant installed or on order during the war aggregated 1,143,000 K.W., and was almost exactly equal to the total plant capacity existing at the outbreak of war. Further, considerable orders were placed for private electric generating plants, particularly in connexion with the extension of iron and steel works, where waste heat was available. All of the additional power was required for power, smelting, and other industrial purposes. New connexions for domestic purposes were not made, and owing to military requirements, coal shortage, and other causes restrictions were placed on public and private lighting and on the general domestic consumption of electricity. Exact statistics of total domestic demand are not available, but in this direction there was a substantial diminution in output during the war.

The capital cost of these extensions, including mains and substations, was about £23,000,000. They were financed, where necessary, by Treasury issues of interest-bearing loans, repayable by annual instalments over 15 years or so. Further, the Ministry of Munitions was empowered to guarantee to bear the difference between the cost of carrying out extensions during the war and the estimated cost of the same work if carried out at a period, generally one or two years, after the period of hostilities, and also to meet the cost of any portions of extensions found to be in excess of the post-war needs of the undertaking. The object of this arrangement was to put the undertakings in the position they would have occupied if they had not extended during the war, but had waited until their post-war requirements had to be met. About £3,150,000 out of the total of £23,000,000 was thus advanced by the Ministry of Munitions. Some applicants pressed for definite Government grants, but these were refused on the ground that electric supply undertakings enjoyed a monopoly with perpetual or lengthy powers for the supply of a commodity required after the war, and were therefore in a different position from manufacturers called upon to undertake a form of production not needed under peace conditions.

The general policy of the British Government was to encourage power users to take current from the public mains rather than to erect separate small generating stations. Even where private plants were sanctioned, as in the special cases mentioned above, linking-up with an adjacent public service undertaking was arranged wherever possible. Public supply undertakings were also in some cases linked together for mutual assistance.

During the war there was a marked increase in the average size of generating units, an improvement in load factor, and a reduction in the costs of generation. Before the war the average size of generating unit installed was 522 K.W., with 8,000 K.W. as the capacity of the largest unit. At the end of Oct. 1918 the average size was 7,044 K.W., and units of 25,000 K.W. and 30,000 K.W. were being built. In 1914 the coal consumption per unit sold was 4.1 lb.; in 1918 it fell to 3.75 lb. in spite of the very inferior fuel then in use—an improvement due to the larger and more efficient plant and the rise in load factor resulting from concentration of load.

Two special control orders were imposed on the industry by the Ministry of Munitions. The first—Converter Plant Control Order, 1918 (issued April 5 1918 and cancelled Feb. 28 1919)—was designed to reduce the demand for converter plant and to assist supply engineers in persuading customers (especially shipbuilding firms) that the alternating current available was quite suitable for their requirements. The second was the Electricity (Restriction of New Supply) Order, 1918, issued on Nov. 8. A shortage of coal had arisen in the early part of that year owing to large withdrawals of miners for active service, and from other causes; and the coal controller accordingly rationed the use of coal. As the Ministry of Munitions undertook to limit new electrical connexions to consumers wholly engaged on urgent munitions work the rationing was not applied to power stations. Concurrently with the issue of this order the coal controller rationed the use of both electricity and gas for domestic purposes. On Jan. 10 1919 the order was revoked.

In spite of the enormous increase in output, which made the four years of war equivalent in electrical growth to the previous 32 years of industry, the financial condition of the undertakings did not on the whole improve. Very few undertakings paid excess profits, and most of them had to raise their prices substantially in order to keep receipts above the rising tide of costs, due to increases in wages and the higher cost of coal, stores and repairs. The position of the smaller provincial undertakings, which had practically no industrial load, became especially difficult. Maximum prices are scheduled in every provisional order, and in many cases they proved too low in the abnormal circumstances created by the war. The Statutory Undertakings (Temporary Increase of Charges) Act, 1918, was passed to afford relief. The Board of Trade was empowered, after inquiry into applications for relief, to permit increases in maximum charges sufficient, in the case of companies, to enable three-quarters of the pre-war dividend to be paid, and, in the case of municipalities, to not more than 50% above the pre-war charges, or more than sufficient to enable the undertaking to be carried on without loss.

Committees on Electricity Supply.—The proof afforded early in the war of the great national importance of electricity supply led to a series of official investigations into the question of reorganizing the industry on broader and more efficient lines. The Reconstruction Committee (later the Ministry of Reconstruction) formed a Coal Conservation Sub-Committee which discussed the subject chiefly from the standpoint of the more economical use of fuel. The supply industry was also touched upon by the committee formed by the Board of Trade to consider the position of the electrical trades after the war. As the result of a recommendation by this committee a Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade on electric power supply was formed. A report on the same subject was prepared by the Committee of Chairmen of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Reconstruction. These reports, particularly that of the Board of Trade Committee on electric power supply, led up to the appearance before the House of Commons in the 1919 session of the Electricity (Supply) bill. In its original form the bill provided for the appointment of electricity commissioners and for the constitution of district electricity boards to secure a cheap and abundant supply of electricity by: (a) the acquisition of generating stations, (b) the acquisition or use of main transmission lines of any authorized undertakers, (c) the supply of electricity within their district (including the construction of generating stations, main transmission lines, and other works required for the purpose), and (d) the acquisition of the undertakings or parts of the undertakings of authorized distributors and power companies. At dates to be specified all the public generating stations and main transmission lines in a district were to vest in the board subject to the payment of the “standard price.” In the case of municipal undertakings the standard price was defined as one or more annuities sufficient to indemnify the local authority against their liabilities for interest and sinking fund. In the case of a company it was to be “the cost of and incidental to the construction of the generating station or main transmission line, and the acquisition of the site thereby, less depreciation.” Boards were to be empowered to borrow for these purposes on terms to be fixed by the electricity commissioners, who were also to be empowered to lend to boards or authorized undertakers, subject to Treasury approval, money up to a total of £25,000,000, if they were satisfied that the boards or undertakers could not otherwise raise the money on reasonable terms. A sum of £20,000,000 was also to be made available out of the consolidated fund to enable the Board of Trade to construct interim works during the first two years.

Opposition to the bill was directed chiefly against the compulsory character and operation of joint electricity control, the magnitude