The Minister or the Secretary of State may cause an inquiry to be held in any case when he deems it advisable to do so in connection with any matter arising under this Act (including any enactment incorporated therewith) or the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1882 to 1936, or the Act of 1943.

Subsections (2) to (5) of section two hundred and ninety of the [23 & 24 Geo. 5. c. 51.] Local Government Act, 1933, shall apply to any inquiry held by the Minister in England and Wales in pursuance of this section, and shall have effect as if the expression " department " included the Minister, and the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Act of 1943 shall apply to any inquiry held in Scotland, whether by the Minister or the Secretary of State, in pursuance of this section in like manner as those provisions apply to any inquiry held by the Secretary of State for the purposes of that Act:

Provided that no local authority shall be ordered to pay costs under subsection (4) of the said section two hundred and ninety in the case of any inquiry unless they are a party thereto.