Electricity (Supply) Act 1927

1. Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Board” means the Electricity Supply Board appointed under this Act;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression “the Shannon works” means and includes all works of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate constructed under the Shannon Electricity Act, 1925 (No. 26 of 1925) for the production and generation of electricity by means of hydraulic power derived from the waters of the River Shannon and the transmission and supply in bulk of the electricity so produced and also the lands and premises acquired by the Minister in pursuance of the powers in that behalf conferred on him by the Act aforesaid not including any lands acquired by the Minister under the said Act and determined by him under section 12 of the said Act to be surplus lands, and not including any lands acquired by the Minister for a special purpose under the said Act as amended by this Act;

the expression “the transmission system of the Shannon works” means the portion of the Shannon works used or intended to be used for the transmission and supply in bulk of the electricity produced in the Shannon works;

the expression “authorised undertaker” means a person who is for the time being authorised by any local or personal Act of the United Kingdom Parliament or any private Act of the Oireachtas or any provisional or other order made under statutory authority (whether before or after the establishment of Saorstát Eireann) or by special order of the Board made under this Act to generate, distribute, and supply or to distribute and supply electricity to the public in any specified area and who by virtue of such Act or Order has for the time being the exclusive right of so supplying electricity in such area;

the expression “permitted undertaker” means any person to whom a permit has been granted and is in force under this Act to generate, distribute, and supply or to distribute and supply either to the public generally or to particular classes or members of the public electricity either for all purposes or for one or more specified purposes in a specified area;

the expression “statutory undertaker” means any person authorised by any local or personal Act of the United Kingdom Parliament or any private Act of the Oireachtas or any Provisional or other Order made under statutory authority (whether before or after the establishment of Saorstát Eireann) to generate electricity for any purpose;

the word “undertaking”—

(a)when used in reference to an authorised undertaker who is authorised to generate and distribute and supply electricity to the public, means and includes the electric plant, machinery, and works used by such undertaker for the generation of electricity, the electric lines, apparatus, and appliances used by such undertaker for the distribution and supply of electricity to the public and the premises used by such undertaker in connection with such plant, machinery, and works and such lines, apparatus, and appliances,

(b)when used in reference to an authorised undertaker who is authorised only to distribute and supply electricity to the public, means and includes the electric lines, apparatus and appliances used by such undertaker for the distribution and supply of electricity to the public and the premises used by such undertaker in connection with such lines, apparatus and appliances, and

(c)when used in reference to a statutory undertaker, means and includes the electric plant, machinery, and works used by such undertaker in the generation of electricity for the purpose for which such undertaker is empowered to generate electricity by the Act or Order constituting such undertaker and the premises used by such undertaker in connection with the generation of electricity for the purpose aforesaid;

the expression “distribution system” means and includes that portion of an undertaking used or intended to be used for the distribution and supply of electricity to consumers;

the expression “transmission system” means and includes the electric lines, poles, pillars, transformers, and other electrical apparatus used in connection with the transmission of electricity from a generating station to a distribution system and the premises used in connection with such apparatus;

the expression “generating station” means a station for the generation of electricity;

the expression “supply in bulk” means a supply of electricity to be used for resale to consumers;

the word “street” includes any square, court, alley, highway, lane, road, thoroughfare or public passage or place;

the expression “area of supply” means an area within which an authorised undertaker is for the time being authorised to supply electricity to the public and has for the time being the exclusive right of so supplying electricity;

the expression “local authority” includes a county council, county or other borough council, urban district council, rural district council, and the commissioners of a town, and any public body which is established by or in pursuance of any statute to perform any of the functions of any of the above named bodies.

PART I. Constitution, Finance and General Functions of the Electricity Supply Board.

2. Constitution of The Electricity Supply Board.

2.—(1)As soon as may be after the passing of this Act a board to be styled and known as the Electricity Supply Board (in this Act referred to as the Board) shall be established in accordance with this Act to fulfil the functions assigned to it by this Act.

(2)The Board shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and may sue and be sued under its said style and name.

(3)The Board shall consist of a chairman and such number (not being less than two nor more than six) of other members as the Executive Council shall from time to time determine.

(4)The members of the Board shall be appointed by the Executive Council and every person so appointed to be a member of the Board shall hold office for such period not exceeding five years as shall be fixed by the Executive Council when appointing him and every such person shall on the expiration of his term of office be eligible for re-appointment.

(5)The chairman of the Board shall be that member of the Board who at the time of his appointment to be a member of the Board or subsequently is appointed by the Executive Council to be such chairman.

(6)The chairman of the Board shall devote the whole of his time to his duties as such chairman and each of the other members of the Board shall devote the whole or so much of his time to his duties as such member as shall be prescribed by the Executive Council at the time of his appointment.

(7)Every member of the Board shall be paid out of the funds at the disposal of the Board such remuneration and such allowances for expenses as the Executive Council shall F1[from time to time] prescribe.

3. Disqualification of members, etc., of Board from being members of the Oireachtas.

3.—F2[…]

4. Common Seal of the Board.

4.—(1)The Board shall provide and have a common seal, and such seal shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman of the Board or some other member thereof authorised by the Board to act in that behalf and the signature of an officer of the Board duly authorised by the Board to act in that behalf.

(2)All courts of justice shall take judicial notice of the seal of the Board, and every document purporting to be an order or other instrument made by the Board and to be sealed with the seal of the Board authenticated in accordance with this section shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such order or instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown.

5. Removal of Members of the Board.

5.—(1)If at any time it appears to the Executive Council that the removal from office of all or any of the members of the Board is necessary in the interests of the effective and economical performance of the functions of the Board under this Act the Executive Council may remove from office all or so many of the members of the Board as the Executive Council considers necessary in the interests aforesaid.

(2)The Executive Council may at any time remove from office any member of the Board who has become incapable through ill-health of performing efficiently his duties as such member or who has (otherwise than for a reason considered by the Executive Council to be sufficient) been absent from all meetings of the Board during a period of six months.

(3)If and whenever the Executive Council removes from office under this section any member of the Board, the Executive Council shall lay before each House of the Oireachtas a statement in writing of the fact of the removal from office of such member and of the reasons for such removal.

6. Procedure of the Board.

6.—(1)The procedure of the Board at its meetings and otherwise shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the regulations in that behalf made by the Board under this Act.

(2)Whenever and so long as the Board consists of three members only, two members of the Board shall constitute a quorum, and whenever and so long as the Board consists of more than three members, one-third of the members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.

(3)The Board may act notwithstanding a vacancy in its membership.

7. Accounts and audits.

7.—(1)The Board shall keep in such form as shall be approved by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Finance all proper and usual accounts of all moneys received or expended by them, including a capital account, revenue account, profit and loss account, and a balance sheet, and in particular shall keep in such form as aforesaid all such special accounts as the Minister on his motion or at the request of the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct.

(2)The accounts of the Board shall in each year be audited and be the subject of a report by duly qualified auditors appointed annually for the purpose by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, and the fees of such auditors and the expenses generally of such audits shall be paid by the Board.

(3)The Minister may with the consent of the Minister for Finance F3[give from time to time directions] prescribing the time, place, and method of conducting the audit of the accounts of the Board under this section and may also prescribe by F3[such directions] the accounts of which copies are to be furnished to the Minister under this section and the accounts which are to be published and put on sale under this section and the time and method of such publication and sale.

(4)Immediately after every audit under this section of the accounts of the Board, the Board shall send to the Minister a copy of the balance sheet and profit and loss account as passed by the auditors, a copy of the auditors' report, and copies of such of the accounts submitted to the auditors as are prescribed in that behalf by F3[directions given] under this section or may be specially called for by the Minister, and shall publish and put on sale in accordance with F3[such directions] such of the accounts submitted to the auditors as are prescribed in that behalf by F3[such directions].

8. Officers and servants of the Board.

8.—(1)The Board shall appoint such and so many officers and servants as it shall from time to time think proper.

(2)There shall be paid by the Board to its officers and servants out of the funds at its disposal under this Act such remuneration and allowances as the Board shall determine.

(3)F4[…]

(4)F4[…]

9. Exercise of functions of Board through its officers.

9.—The Board may exercise any of the powers and perform any of the functions and duties (other than the making of orders) conferred and imposed on the Board by this Act through or by any of its officers or servants authorised by the Board in that behalf.

10. Disclosure of interest in contract.

10.—F5[…]

11. Prohibition of interests in electrical undertakings.

11.—F6[…]

12. Advances from the Central Fund to the Board.

12.—(1)The Minister for Finance shall, F7[with the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and subject to] the limitations imposed by this section, advance out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof to the Board as and when requested so to do by the Board all such sums as the Board shall from time to time, but not later than the appointed day request the said Minister to advance to it.

F8[(2) The total amount of the sums advanced to the Board under this section to meet the liability of the Board under this Act in respect of interest and arrears of interest on sums advanced out of the Central Fund under the Shannon Electricity Act 1925 (No. 26 of 1925), to the separate fund established under section 11 of that Act and the expenses incurred by the Board in the operation, maintenance, and repair of the Shannon works under this Act shall not exceed the sum of one hundred and fifty-six thousand pounds.]

(3)The total amount of the sums advanced to the Board under this section for any purpose other than to meet the liability and expenses mentioned in the foregoing sub-section shall not exceed the sum of two millions, five hundred thousand pounds, and the total amount of the sums so advanced in any one half-year except in the half-year ending on the appointed day for any purpose other than as aforesaid shall not exceed the sum of four hundred thousand pounds.

(4)The Minister for Finance may, for the purpose of providing for the advance of sums out of the Central Fund under this section, or for the repayment to that Fund of all or any part of the sums so advanced, or for paying off any securities issued under this section so far as such payment is not otherwise provided for, borrow money by means of the issue of such securities as he thinks proper, and all sums so borrowed shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(5)The principal of and interest on all securities issued under this section shall be charged on and payable out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(6)The sums to be advanced under this section F7[shall, with the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be advanced] by the Minister for Finance, and shall be expended by the Board solely for the purpose of the exercise and performance of the powers and functions conferred on the Board by this Act.

(7)In this section the expression “the appointed day” means the 31st day of December, 1932 or such later date as the Minister, after consultation with the Board, may by order made under this section appoint.

(8)The Minister may by order made with the consent of the Minister for Finance before the 31st day of December, 1932 appoint such date subsequent to the said 31st day of December, 1932 as with the consent aforesaid he thinks proper to be the appointed day.

Every order made under this sub-section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if either such House shall, within one month after the first day on which such House sits after such order is laid before it, pass a resolution annulling such order, such order shall be annulled accordingly without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

13. Payment of interest on advances.

13.—(1)The Board shall pay to the Minister for Finance on every sum advanced to the Board out of the Central Fund under this Act interest from the date of the advance of such sum until the same is repaid at such rate as shall be appointed by the Minister for Finance F9[…] and such interest shall be so paid by equal half-yearly payments on such days in every year as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time appoint.

(2)If the Board fails to pay to the Minister for Finance any interest payable by it under this section at the time appointed in that behalf under this section, the Board shall pay to the said Minister interest at the rate appointed by the said Minister on the interest so unpaid from the time appointed as aforesaid until the same is actually paid.

(3)Any interest payable by the Board to the Minister for Finance under this section on or before the appointed day, may be paid by the Board out of the moneys advanced to the Board out of the Central Fund under this Act.

(4)All interest paid to the Minister for Finance by the Board under this section shall be paid into the Exchequer in such manner as the said Minister shall from time to time direct.

F10[(5) The Minister for Finance may from time to time vary the rate at which interest payable under this section is to be paid.]

14. Repayment of advances made under this Act.

14.—(1)For the purpose of providing for the repayment by the Board of the advances made to it out of the Central Fund under this Act, the Board shall make to the Minister for Finance half-yearly payments commencing on such date, not being earlier than the 1st day of January, 1933 as the said Minister after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce shall appoint and continuing for such number of years and being of such amounts and payable at such times as the said Minister after such consultation as aforesaid shall appoint, and different such dates, numbers of years, amounts, and times may be so appointed in respect of different portions of such advances.

(2)The several half-yearly payments to be made to the Minister for Finance by the Board under this section shall be applied by the said Minister as sinking funds for the repayment of the several portions of the advances in respect of which such half-yearly payments are made and when the Board has paid to the said Minister the full number of the half-yearly payments appointed under this section in respect of any portion of such advances (together with any interest which may have become payable under this section in respect of any of such half-yearly payments) such portion of such advances shall be deemed to be fully repaid by the Board without prejudice to the liability of the Board for any interest then unpaid in respect of such portion of such advances.

(3)If the Board fails to pay to the Minister for Finance any half-yearly payment or portion of a half-yearly payment payable by it to the said Minister under this section at the time appointed in that behalf under this section, the Board shall pay to the said Minister interest at the rate appointed by the said Minister on such half-yearly payment or portion of a half-yearly payment from the time appointed as aforesaid until the same is actually paid.

(4)All moneys paid by the Board to the Minister for Finance under this section shall be paid into the Exchequer in such manner as the said Minister shall from time to time direct.

15. Repayment of advances made under the Shannon Electricity Act, 1925.