asked the Secretary of State for Energy what was the mean cost per unit of thermal electricity produced by the CEGB from power stations using coal, gas, oil and nuclear fission as a fuel base, giving the cost variations for the past three years as at 31st December of each year.

The CEGB prepares figures for the financial rather than the calendar year. The following are the average generation costs in pence per KWh of CEGB power stations commissioned in the last 12 years:

	1972–73	1973–74	1974–73
Coal-fired stations	0·49	0·53	0·74
Oil-fired stations	0·40	0·55	0·88
Nuclear stations	0·48	0·52	0·48

These figures include interest and depreciation charges appropriate to the financial years quoted. The CEGB has only two power stations which burn gas, both of which are dual coal/gas-fired stations. No meaningful figure for the generating cost of gas-fired stations is therefore available.