WE take electrical appliances for granted and most homes have dozens of different pieces of equipment which can be plugged in - all of them bought in shops or ordered online.

In the 1920s what few devices were available for home use were generally rented at so much per week from the council’s "hiring out department".

Barrow Borough Council was the town’s electricity supplier from its power station at Buccleuch Street.

It was controlled by the Electricity Supply Committee and the councilors were advised by borough electrical engineer Mr H. R. Bennett.

How the committee operated is revealed in a bound book of typed reports from the period April 1923 to August 1924 which turned up in Millom and was kindly supplied by Reg Heathcote, of Newton Street.

The economic outlook for Furness in the 1920s was generally poor and occasionally dire - with a high percentage of families coping with regular periods of unemployment during an international trade slump after the First World War.

A report for the 12 months to the end of March in 1923 noted: "The number of pieces of domestic apparatus on hire shows a considerable decrease, but this is entirely due to so large a proportion of the consumers to whom this apparatus is let out being unemployed."

The council was hiring out 220 electric motors, 286 radiators, 1,352 flat irons, 59 kettles, 33 ovens and 372 assorted hot plates, grills, breakfast cookers and urns.

The borough electrical engineer was keen to open a showroom to let Barrow people see the latest dometic appliances. One place considered was 84 Duke Street. In 1924 it was available to buy for £2,000 - of £150 a year to rent.

He said: "If your undertaking is to be developed to the fullest extent it is absolutely essential that a showroom should be established."

Shops could hire a "clock switch" to have their front display windows lit after closing time for a halfcrown (12p) every three months.

Another money spinner was selling permission to mount advertising signs on its town centre power poles.

A fee of £2 a year was suggested when Mr Forbes, manager of the Imperial Hotel wanted to put up an Automobile Association sign on a pole at the junction of Cornwallis Street and Duke Street.

Mr Baxter, of the hiring out and publicity department, used his own motorcycle and sidecar to visit customers.

in 1924 the committee was considering the purchase of its own lorry and hire costs were at £168 a year.

They considered a range of new vehicles, all with a tipping body and a one ton carrying capacity.

Ford was the cheapest at £152, next was Morris at £246, a Chevrolet came in at £246 and an Overland at £253. Also considered was a Vulcan with 30cwt capacity at £465.

Barrow furnishers Townson and Ward offered the council exhibition space for its domestic electrical apparatus.

The electrical engineer said: "This would afford a good opportunity of bringing to the notice of consumers the many purposes to which electricity can be applied in the house."

There were just 5,171 private electricity consumers in Barrow by March 1923 - around 10 per cent of the population having access to something we all now expect as a minimum standard.

In 1913 there had been just 1,116 homes with electricity from the council, rising to 3,019 by 1919 and 4,547 by 1921.

Good years left the council with a profit. In 1916 this was a record £12,804 but in 1920 - possibly the worst of the reccesion years in Barrow - there was a loss of £4,488.

Councillors did not have a standard way to charge electricity - which caused no end of problems.

The Isle of Walney Estate Company, which had an office next to the Ferry Hotel, was used to collect fixed power fees from homes on the Vickerstown estate.

A report on October 5 in 1923 said: "Owing to the fact that the tenants of these houses are either unable or unwilling to pay this charge."

A total of 71 houses were paying a set weekly fee of between 10 pence (4p) and 1/1 (5p) - but some of the houses used just 20 units for a couple of light bulbs while others used up to 905 units for heating and cooking.

The suggestion was that the fee be replaced with pre-payment meters - which would cost the council £4 and 10 shillings (£4.50).