Abstract :
The object of this brief paper is to draw attention to the urgent necessity of accepting the principle of multipart charging for electricity supply ; also to show that fiat rates, and minimum charges based upon them, have outlived their usefulness, and that the progress of electricity supply has left behind the conditions which gave rise to certain features of early electricity legislation, and so rendered them out-of-date and obstructive to progress. The ground covered by the paper is by no means new, but there are certain features of the domestic load which seem to call for special consideration and treatment; for instance, the desirability of regarding such load and its characteristics in blocks or by averages in place of the particular attention which has in the past been given to the individual consumers. Attention is also directed to the need of establishing a basis for two-part tariffs which shall take into consideration the growth of maximum demand and the need for increased mains capacity which would follow from extensive domestic electrification. Many of the existing multi-part tariffs do not regard this, and it is feared on that account the running rate per unit may have to be higher than would be the case if a method were adopted whereby notable increases in domestic demand would be accompanied by reasonable increases in the fixed charge payable by such consumers. The fact that a reasonably complete state of domestic electrification may give us 3 times the revenue at present obtainable from such consumers, associated with a demand for 10 times the amount of electrical energy in units, suggests that the business is well worth cultivating, and that in all probability it will become possible to cater for it directly on a basis of averages rather than by precise individual measurement. At the present time opportunities for discussing this matter are valuable, and proper consideration for it must form a feature of legislation in the immediate future if the la- st, and perhaps greatest, field for the detailed distribution of electricity is to be secured.
