Area Boards: Independence, Overexpansion and the New Rationality

Both the Area Boards and Conservative back-benchers had initially been delighted that the new Electricity Council had relatively few powers of control over the decentralised distribution Boards. Their labour relations remained a central matter (see Chapter 18 below), as did some training and the arrangements for pooling bank accounts and raising capital. But the central responsibilities for policy development, economic and engineering performance, and ‘commercial’ behaviour now lay with the Area Boards. Their officers still met regularly (though less frequently than under the CEA) to discuss common problems, and their chairmen now all met at Council meetings every month, but they were free to go their own way on most matters if they wished. Conservative romantics viewed this as the pathway to more commercial behaviour and increased efficiency and profitability, and the Herbert Committee had itself entertained hopes in this direction; but it became increasingly clear that this particular incantation did not work.