Electricity Act 1957

Reorganisation

1Dissolution of Central Electricity Authority

On the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight (in this Act referred to as "the vesting date "), the Central Electricity Authority shall cease to exist.

2Establishment, constitution and functions of Central Electricity Generating Board

(1)There shall be established a Board, to be called the Central Electricity Generating Board (in this Act referred to as " the Generating Board"), who shall, as from the vesting date, perform the functions assigned to them by or under this Act, together with such functions of the Central Authority under the Electricity Act, 1947 (in this Act referred to as " the principal Act"), and other enactments, as by virtue of this Act are transferred to the Generating Board.

(2)The Generating Board shall consist of a chairman appointed by the Minister and such number of other members so appointed, not being less than seven or more than nine, as the Minister may from time to time determine.

(3)All the members of the Generating Board shall be appointed by the Minister from amongst persons appearing to him to be qualified as having had experience of, and having shown capacity in, the generation or supply of electricity, industrial, commercial or financial matters, applied science, administration, or the organisation of workers.

(4)The Minister shall appoint one or more members of the Generating Board to be deputy chairman or deputy chairmen of the Board.

(5)Without prejudice to any other functions assigned or transferred to them as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, it shall as from the vesting date be the duty of the Generating Board to develop and maintain an efficient, co-ordinated and economical system of supply of electricity in bulk for all parts of England and Wales, and for that purpose—

(a)to generate or acquire supplies of electricity ; and

(b)to provide bulk supplies of electricity for the Area Boards for distribution by those Boards.

(6)In accordance with any agreement made in that behalf by the Generating Board with the person or body of persons to be supplied, the Generating Board may provide bulk supplies of electricity—

(a)for either of the Scottish Electricity Boards, or

(b)for any person or body of persons carrying on an electricity undertaking outside Great Britain,

and may provide supplies of electricity (whether in bulk or otherwise) for any other person or body of persons for whom the Generating Board may for the time being be authorised by the Minister to provide such supplies.

(7)The Generating Board shall have power—

(a)to manufacture anything required by the Generating Board or by any Area Board for purposes of research or development or for the repair or maintenance of their equipment;

(b)to sell, hire or otherwise supply electrical plant, and to instal, repair, maintain or remove any electrical plant and electrical fittings ; and

(c)to carry on all such other activities as it may appear to the Generating Board to be requisite, advantageous or convenient for them to carry on for or in connection with the performance of their functions under the preceding provisions of this section or with a view to making the best use of any assets vested in them:

Provided that nothing in paragraph (c) of this subsection, or in the principal Act, shall be construed as authorising the Generating Board to manufacture anything except as mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection, or to sell, hire or otherwise supply electrical fittings.

(8)For the purposes of any enactment (including the principal Act and this Act) the Generating Board shall be included among the Boards referred to as Electricity Boards, or as Electricity Boards in England and Wales.

3Establishment, constitution and functions of Electricity Council

(1)There shall be established a Council, to be called the Electricity Council, who shall, as from the vesting date, perform the functions assigned to them by or under this Act, together with such functions of the Central Authority under the principal Act and other enactments as by virtue of this Act are transferred to the Electricity Council.

(2)The Electricity Council shall be constituted as follows:—

(a)the Minister shall appoint a person to be the chairman of the Council, and shall appoint two other persons to be deputy chairmen of the Council, and may (in addition to the members so appointed) appoint as members of the Council such number, not exceeding three, of other persons (being persons appearing to the Minister to be qualified as mentioned in subsection (3) of the last preceding section) as he may from time to time determine;

(b)three other members shall be the person for the time being holding office as chairman of the Generating Board, and such other members of that Board as may be designated by that Board ; and

(c)the remaining members shall be the persons for the time being holding the office of chairman of an Area Board:

Provided that the deputy chairman of an Area Board shall be entitled to attend meetings of the Electricity Council in place of the chairman of that Board during any vacancy in the office of chairman or in the event of the chairman being unable to attend owing to illness or absence from Great Britain; and any member of the Generating Board designated by the Board in that behalf shall be entitled to attend meetings of the Electricity Council—

(i)in place of the chairman of the Generating Board, during any vacancy in the office of chairman of that Board, or

(ii)in place of any of the members of the Council referred to in paragraph (b) of this subsection, in the event of any inability of that member to attend owing to illness or absence from Great Britain,

and any person attending a meeting of the Electricity Council by virtue of this proviso in place of another person shall, in relation to that meeting, have the same rights, powers and duties as the person in whose place he attends.

(3)A person who is for the time being a member of an Electricity Board shall not be eligible to be appointed by the Minister by virtue of paragraph (a) of the last preceding subsection to be a member of the Electricity Council, whether as chairman, deputy chairman or otherwise; and, notwithstanding anything in the last preceding section or in any other enactment, a person who is for the time being a member of the Electricity Council so appointed shall not be eligible for appointment as a member of an Electricity Board.

(4)Without prejudice to any other functions assigned or transferred to the Electricity Council as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, it shall as from the vesting date be the duty of that Council—

(a)to advise the Minister on questions affecting the electricity supply industry and matters relating thereto; and

(b)to promote and assist the maintenance and development by Electricity Boards in England and Wales of an efficient, co-ordinated and economical system of electricity supply.

(5)The Electricity Council shall have power, if so authorised by all the Electricity Boards in England and Wales, or by any group of those Boards, to perform services for, or act on behalf of, the Boards concerned in relation to matters of common interest to those Boards.

(6)Subsection (5) of section two of the principal Act (which confers ancillary powers on Electricity Boards), and subsections (1), (6), (7) and (8) of section three of that Act (which relate respectively to the incorporation of Electricity Boards, to the remuneration, allowances and pensions of members of Electricity Boards, to the power of the Minister to make regulations with respect to Electricity Boards, and to the regulation of their procedure subject to any such regulations) shall apply in relation to the Electricity Council as they apply in relation to any of the Electricity Boards in England and Wales.

(7)The power to make regulations under subsection (7) of section three of the principal Act, as applied in relation to the Electricity Council by the last preceding subsection, shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and any instrument containing any such regulations shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(8)For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the provisions of this section as to the functions of the Electricity Council (including the provisions of subsection (5) of section two of the principal Act as applied to that Council) relate only to the capacity of the Electricity Council as a statutory corporation ; and nothing in those provisions shall be construed as authorising the disregard by that Council of any enactment or rule of law.

4Whole-time members of Generating Board, Electricity Council and Area Boards

(1)The office of chairman of the Generating Board or of the Electricity Council shall not be held except by a person appointed as a whole-time member of the Board or Council.

(2)Subject to the preceding subsection, in the exercise of his powers of appointing members of the Generating Board or of the Electricity Council in accordance with sections two and three of this Act, or of appointing members of an Area Board in accordance with section three of the principal Act, the Minister shall secure that as many of the members so appointed as he may consider requisite for the efficient performance of the functions of the Council or Board shall be appointed as whole-time members of the Council or Board.

5Consultative Councils

(1)Section seven of the principal Act (under which a Consultative Council is established for the area of each Area Board) shall, in its application to England and Wales, have effect subject to the amendments specified in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act.

(2)The section set out in Part II of the First Schedule to this Act shall be inserted in the principal Act after section seven; and the said section seven shall cease to extend to Scotland.