THE POWER BOARD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 81, 16 January 1928, Page 8

THE POWER BOARD

PROGRESS OF WORKS. SAYINGS AT THE STATION. . Tixe Ashbarton Electric Power Board met tills morning, when there were -resent: Messrs F. W. Watt (chairman;, -VV. H. Bundle, H. Morris, R. F. Niooll, J AV M Dart, W. G. Gallagher. A. Horse v S Smith, W. H. Woods, and W- T' Lill. An &j> logy for absence was received from Mr'H. J- Ci others, who had met with a slight accident The financial statement showed that the revenue for December totalled £3015 12s 4d, the items being as follow—Domestic Service £1902 0s 6d, Commercial Service £360 0s 6d, Power £440 13s 2d, Public Lighting £286 9& sd, "Sundry Revenue £26 8s 9d. Loan cash receipts received since last meeting amounted to £3678 16s lOd. Reports by Officers. The Engineer- Secretary (Mr H. G. Kemp) reported that owing to the big demand for all electrical appliances December had been a very busy month .with the* staff. The permanent gang were continuously employed in running new service lines, and the reconstruction of distribution lines and services to feed new cookers and motors tor shearing purposes. Two small line extensions were run to pick up new consumers, one at Allenton and the other at Dromore. Considerable alterations! to lines were carried out to give the required protection to new lines run by the .Post and Telegraph Department. Durin" the mouth the County was visited by two severe lightning storms which caused considerable interruptions to services. The first storm, on the 23rd, affected mostly the Rakaia and Kuapuna districts, and the Methven and Dromore districts. Altogether 24 transformer fuses were blown and two Kelmcu oil switches were damaged. The second storm, on the 31st December, was not so general, affecting mainly the Eittelton and Riverside districts mid in all, 12 transformers were affected The llunning Engineer (Mr A. Saunders) reported that units supplied from Lake Coleridge totalled 377,306, and from, the Diesel 1,156, a total of 378,462 The maximum demand on Coleridge (976 Kva) was at 10.50-11.20 a.m. on. Wednesday, December 14, and the maximum demand on the station (1110 K.W.) was at 10.50-11.20 a.m. on the game date-r The Diesel plant was running for a total of 10 hours 16 minutes

during December. The maximum demand on Coleridge for the quarter ending December 31, 'was 976 Kva. and'the maximum demand on the station for the quarter was 1110 K.W. This showed a saving of 134 K.W. (£268) through running the Diesel plant for the quarter tor a total running time of 23 hours 14. minutes. Over the same period the static condensers showed a saving of 196 K.V.A. (£392). This was estimating the power factor to be .85. while- it probabir would have been lower, which would have made the saving correspondingly higher. The Inspector (Mr W. G. Welsh) reported that during the month they had been kept busy getting appliances installed before Christmas. The mam atems installed were 12 ranges, 7 water jieaters, 6 refrigerators and 13 motors, .six of these motors* being attached to refrigerators. Twelve ranges and 7 water-heaters had ben connected, 13 motors installed, and 8 applications for current had been received. New consumers totalled 13, making <& total to date of 2931.. -

Report on New Lines. The Engineer-Secretary presented the following report on proposed new lines: A proposed extension from the Methven 1 line to feed a new consumer in the Cairnbrae district. The proposed line t*s off at Elliott's comer and follows tho route-taken by the Public .Works line. An additional consumer will probably be served bv a line at a later dale■:--Length of line 1.4. miles; estimated cost, £120; revenue guaranteed £24. While the gang are on this district it is proposed to effect a reconstruction of a branch of the Cairnbrae line to give a better service to the consumers This involves dismantling about one mile of the Cairnbrae branch, the two*-consumers at the lower end being fed by extending the present branch from the Spnngfield-Lyndhurst line to Mangin. about 28 chains. Ihe additional material recovered from tie Cairnbrae branch will be used in, the con? traction of the propped extension to MacDonald's.