| Short Title: | Electricity (Supply) Act 1922 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to amend the law with respect to the supply of electricity. |
| Year: | 1926 |
| Citation: | 12 & 13 Geo. 5 c. 46 |
| Territorial Extent: | England and Wales, Scotland (excludes Ireland) |
| Royal Assent: | 4 August 1922 |
| Repeal Date: | 31 March 1990 |
| Amends: | Electricity (Supply) Act 1919 |
| Repealing Legislation: | Electricity Act 1989 |
| Status: | repealed |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/12-13/46/contents/enacted |
The Electricity (Supply) Act 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5. c. 46)[1] was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the law on the supply of electricity. This Act was construed as one with the Electricity (Supply) Acts 1882 to 1919, and was cited as the Electricity (Supply) Acts 1882 to 1922. It established the powers of electricity authorities to borrow money for the construction and operation of electricity generating and transmission systems; it amended some Sections of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1919 relating to electricity districts and joint electricity authorities; it empowered electricity authorities to provide a supply to railway companies; and established methods of reclaiming expenses of various statutory bodies.
The Electricity (Supply) Act 1919[2] It had provided for the establishment of the Electricity Commissioners (Sections 1–3), and their duty to determine Electricity Districts (Section 5). The Act also provided for the establishment of joint electricity authorities (Section 8).
The Electricity Commissioners had started work in January 1920 and had identified fifteen electricity districts across the country.[3] However, the establishment of joint electricity authorities (JEAs) was problematic. JEAs were set up on a voluntary basis, and they were largely supported by local authority electricity undertakings. But power companies thought that the JEAs would take over their functions and therefore opposed their establishment.[4]
One of the intentions of the 1922 Act was therefore to allow the JEAs to have appropriate financial powers and to protect the interests of the power companies.[5]
Following the enactment of the 1919 Act there were several wider issues that affected the efficient operation of the British electricity supply industry. During the passage of the Electricity (Supply) Bill through Parliament in 1919, the Conservatives had opposed the bill's proposals for the formation of district electricity boards with their compulsory purchase powers to take over generation and to provide interconnections.[6] Members of the Conservative Party were suspicious of ‘schemes which smacked of nationalisation’, and more widely opposed state intervention in industrial affairs, the powers of compulsion of the Electricity Commissioners were curtailed.
The period from 1919 to 1926 has been characterised as ‘the diagnosis of failure’ of the British electricity supply industry.[7] The Electricity Commissioners admitted that their activities had met with only limited success, as they had been involved in interminable rounds of public inquiries. Lack of powers of compulsion and municipal pride had militated again cooperation between local authority undertakings. There were also concerns about the dominance of power companies and larger local authorities.
While the 1922 Act dealt with some of these issues, the problems of integration and cooperation were addressed later by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926.
The Electricity (Supply) Act 1922 received royal assent on 4 August 1922.
The Act comprised 31 sections as follows.
The 1922 Act resulted in the establishment of JEAs, however only four were constituted, namely:[8]
The Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5. c. 51)[9] established the Central Electricity Board.
The Electricity Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6, c. 54),[10] nationalised the UK electricity supply industry. The Electricity Commissioners, the power companies, and the joint electricity authorities were abolished. The Ownership of electricity generation and transmission facilities was vested in the British Electricity Authority.