From the Archives: Electricity in the Highlands

THE fact that only eight per cent of the 710,194,025 units generated by the stations of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in 1949 were exported to the British Electricity Authority in Central Scotland, the rest being used in the board’s area, was stressed by Mr Thomas Johnston, chairman of the board, when he spoke yesterday at a Press conference in Edinburgh, at which the board’s annual report for 1949 was presented. While pointing out that by far the larger proportion of the electricity generated was sold in the board’s area, Mr Johnston deprecated any tendency there might be in the North of Scotland to argue that all the units should be used in the north, and none exported to the south. It was only by selling a portion to the south, he explained, that the board could meet the cost of providing electricity to isolated areas where the provision was otherwise quite uneconomic.