THE POWER BOARD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 261, 18 August 1930, Page 6

THE POWER BOARD

INCREASE IN REVENUE. PROGRESS OF RETICULATION. REPORTS BY THE OFFICIALS. The Ashburton Electric Power Board met this morning, when there were present: Messrs F. W. Watt (chairman), W. T. Lill, W. H. Woods 8. Smith, A. Horsey, W. Bryant. H Morris, E. F. Nicoll, H. J. Crothers, W. H. Rundle, and J. W. M. Dart. The financial statement showed that receipts since the previous meeting had totalled £4226 2s (£3924 lis 3d in the same period of last year), made up as follows:—Domestic services £2184 Is (£1985 13s lOd), commercial £922 7s (£823 8s 2d), power £1093 lis 4d (£lOBl 15s 3d), sundries £26 2sßd (£35 13s lid), a total increase of £3Ol 10s 9d. The increases in revenue ''or the four months ended July 31, compared with the same four months ot 1929 were as follow: —Domestic £oo7 5o 10d. power £4B 4s 2d, sundries £4 18s 9d*. There was a decrease of £9 2s 3d in the commercial service revenue. The totals were: 1930 £14,518 5s lid; 1929, £13,926 19s-sd;" increase £6ll 6s 6d. There was an overdraft of £8982 19s on the power fund account. CT n The Engineer-Secretary (Mr id. b. Kemp) reported that a number ot additional services had been erected and alterations had been made in several cases. The changing over of low tension to Jhe new sub-station m Wills Street EaMfhad been continued The transformer Pat the Canterbury Flour Mills was changed from 50 kva. to 100 kva. The extensions feeding the T. and K. sawmill-and St. Leonard's sawmill in their old locations had been removed and the new services .completed. Poles were erected on the piles previously driven in the South branch of the Ashburton River at the Forks and the line would be changed over to the new poles shortly. < Two gates to giye access to this section of the Mavfield line were erected. The wiring of the Fairton-Chertsey line had been'completed to Dromore, the 6600volt circuit on the new line had been livened to supply Dromore, and the old Fairton-Dromore line was being dismantled. Bad weather during the month caused very little trouble and only a few poles came down. A number of replacements had been made. The Running-Engineer (Mr A. T. Saunders) reported that units supplied from Lake Coleridge had totalled 509,533, and from the Diesel 1802, a grand total of 511,335. The station maximum was 1549 kva. and Coleridge maximum 1406 kva. Coleridge power was off from 1.45 p.m. to 1.53 p.m. on July 24, due to trouble at the Coleridge power-house. The Diesel plant was running for 20 hours 2 minutes for peak load reduction, using 144 gallons of fuel oil. The Inspector (Mr W. G. Welsh) reported that the house-wiring staff had been engaged on the usual amount of work during the month. The T. and K. sawmill had been connected at Punawai and they were at present using a 60 h.p. and a 3 h.p. motor. The staff had installed five ranges, three water-heaters and two milking plants. A canvass had been) made of the users of milking plants with a view to getting them to change from oil engines to motors. Several had expressed their intention to do so during the next month. Connections now on the service were as follow:—Ranges 659, water-heaters 413, motors 1116, meters 5238.. consumers 3533. «■ The reports were adopted. In reply to a question by a member, the Engmeer-Secretary stated that over 100 consumers had been connected in the Borough in the past six months.