Three bags full, minister: How the London electricity board fixed tariffs for 1984/85

Not before time, the Government have been thinking how to restructure relations with the nationalised industries. A Treasury consultation paper (see also page 8) suggests that, among other measures, the Government are seeking to make board chairmen and members more ‘accountable’ ‐ in practice, more ‘sackable’ ‐ than at present. The following account of how one board reacted to a Treasury‐imposed policy decision ‐ the raising of electricity tariffs from 1 April 1984 ‐suggests that, if anything, boards need to be given greater, not less, protection against political interference.

Unhappy at the way the London Electricity Board agreed to the 2 per cent rise, the London Electricity Consultative Council, as was its right under the Electricity Act 1947, protested to the Electricity Council. This account is a summary of the evidence submitted by the Consultative Council at a formal hearing before the Electricity Council on 25 April 1984. It was given to us by Alex Henney, who was at the time chairman of the Consultative Council and ex‐officio member of the London Electricity Board. Later in the year, the Minister for Consumer Affairs declined to renew Henney's appointment as chairman of the Consultative Council, and refused to give reasons.

For further background to the tariff increase and the way in which it was imposed upon an unwilling industry, see Public Money, June 1984 page 41, and Anthony Harrison's article in Public Money, December 1984, and particularly pages 44–45.