Now heres a question for the old timers, in the days of old round pin plugs - 2 amp, 5 amp, 13 amp, with unshuttered sockets, there was a dual tariff. The 2 amp sockets were wired to the lighting circuits. I think lighting was cheaper per unit than power but a friend disagrees and says it was the other way round. Anybody know for sure? ( and yes we do have some sad arguments)
In the early days power and heating was cheaper, as the main load on the generators was for night time lighting and few people had appliances. Many early houses only had a 5 or 10A total supply. In some areas electricity was about 1/- per unit; in others there was a standing charge and electricity was cheaper (1d) per unit which encouraged consumption. The electricity companies used to rent appliances to encourage daytime use. Wiring lights to the power circuit was thus discouraged or contrary to the tariff conditions.
By the 1970s industrial use of electricity and nuclear generation had changed to the point where night storage heaters were encouraged to boost the night-time consumption.
