POWER BOARD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 209, 17 June 1935, Page 6

POWER BOARD

ACTIVITIES DURING MAY. REVENUE STILL SHOWS INCREASE. DAMAGE BY THE SNOWSTORM. The Ashburton Electric Power Boar<? met this morning, when there were present—Messrs E. F. Nicoll (chairman), J. W. M. Dart, W- H. Woods, H. J. Crothers, H. Morris, W. H. Rundle, J. Car 17 W. G. Gallagher, J. Lambie, R. J. Mulligan, and W. Bryant. The financial statement showed that revenue for May (with a comparison with the returns for May of last year) was as follows: —Domestic £3174 13s lid (£3094 10s 4d), increase £BO 3s 7d; commercial £571 2s 2d (£583 7s 7d), decrease £l2 5s sd; power £685 13s 6d (£605 4s lOd), increase £BO 8s 8d; sundries £39 17s (£43 Os 7d), decrease £3 3s 7d; totals £4471 6s 7d (£4326 3s 4d), increase £145 3s 3d. Revenue for the fir si; two ltioßtibs of the present financial year showed that there was am increase of £477 13s 4d over the total for the corresponding period of last year, the totals being: 1935, £7667 2s 3d; 1934, £7189 8s lid. Increases were as follow j Domestic £lO2 17s Id, commercial £37 15s 4d, power £333 17s 3d, sundries £3 3s Bd. The Treasury forwarded sanction for the raising of £IO,OOO, portion of the large loan authorised some years ago, for a term of 20 years, with 3| per cent, sinking funds and per cent, interest. A report on the taking up of the loan was made by the Works and Finance Committee, which recommended the raising of £SOOO of the amount at once, instead of in two portions of £2500 each at short intervals. This recommendation was adopted. The Engineer-Secretary (Mr H. G. Kemp) reported that a total of 169 defective bluegum poles were replaced during the month in the following districts :—Lowcliffe 26, Eiffelton 2t>, Dorie, Lagmhor and Cairnbrae 12 each, Lowcliffe-Coldstream 9, Ashburton 7, Isleworth, Longbeach and Marawhiti 6 each, Wakanui, Highbank, Launston and Seaview 5 each, . Blackbridge and Holmeslea 4 each, Lyndhurst 3 % Tinvvald and Ruapuna 2 each, Ealing, Chertsey, Seafield, Hinds, Mayfield, Methven, Dromore, Rakaia-Mitcham. Sherwood and Riverside 1 each. Only two small shipments of poles had been received on Contract 56. Pole stocks were very low and the replacement work would probably be held up in the coming month. Seven poles were used in new services. The last section of the Lowcliffe line and Latimer's sion on the Longbeach line had been changed over on to new poles. Trees were trimmed on Somerton, Mount Somers, Springfield, Methven, Meth-ven-Highbank and Barrhill lines. A number of 6600-volt strain insulators which were showing signs of leakage were replaced with 11,000-volt insulators in the Eiffelton district and also on the Dromore and Greenstreet lines in Ashburton. The binders on the high tension lines in West Ashburton were changed to reduce radio interference. A north-west storm on May 20 brought down 45 poles in the following districts -.—Dorie 8, Mitcham 7, Seaview 4, Lauriston 5, Lyndhurst, Ruapuna, Willowby and Blackbridge 3 each, Riverside and Lynnford 2 each, Wakanui, Winchmore, Rakaia, Flemington and Highbank 1 each. A snowstorm on June 9 interrupted supply to the whole area outside Ashburton. Fairly extensive damage was done in Ashburton through the breaking of mains and service-wires. In the country districts there were numerous wire breaks and many cases of branches lying on the lines. Twenty-one poles were broken, of which only five were high tension, the remainder on low tension services and aerials. One steel pole bent on Cressweli s branch due to its angle guy breaking. In view of the depth of the snow, ranging up to 18 inches, on parts of the system, the small amount of damage done was very surprising. The restoration of supply was held up through difficulty in travelling, total lack pf communication and the necessity for having gangs in Ashburton clearing up live wires. Supply was restored to Eiffelton and Rakaia on Monday, and it was also restored to Methven for a time, but lost again in the evening. The Methven line was put through on Tuesday and considerable areas were connected. Mount Somers and Staveley were not supplied until Wednesday afternoon, and by Wednesday night practically the whole system was working and only a few short ends on lines were left out. The supply to the Lauriston district, after having been restored on Wednesday, was subsequently lost again during the evening. There were still a lot of small repairs to be done and the clearing of these would probably take several days. The Running Engineer (Mr A. T. Saunders) reported that units supplied from Coleridge had totalled 734,000, and from the Diesel 2691; total, 736,691. The Diesel plant was running for 28 hours 44 minutes during the month, using 183 gallons of crude oil. The Inspector (Mr W. G. Welsh) reported that tho wiring department had been fully occupied on installation work during the past month, .and an additional 49.066 lew. had been added to the connected load. The connection of new consumers was still being maintained and 12 more had been connected, and also six motors for various uses. A local baker had replaced his electric oven by a larger one, and this was connected and working.- Extensions to existing installations kept one wiring gang fully employed, and 39 consumers' residences had had additions. Twenty-two radio sets had been connected. Connections on the. system were as follow:—Ranges 863, water heaters 496, motors 1581, meters 6061, consumers 3852. Tho reports were adopted. In regard to the storm, the chairman said ho had heard many complimentary remarks regarding the way the Board's men worked in restoring lines. They had worked at high pressure and in exceedingly unpleasant conditions from daylight till dark and had done very good work. In reply to Mr Dart, the EngineerSecretary stated that only one street pole was permanently damaged. Others

were bent, but had been comparatively easily straightened. Mr Gallagher endorsed the chairman's remarks in regard to the work of the staff. The chairman stated that the consumers had been most helpful in the attitude they had adopted while _ the storm damage was still unrepaired. One consumer had gone to the trouble to make a, survey of damage in his district, and had given a report to the Board. This had been of enormous assistance to the staff, and the action of this man had been greatly appreciated. The Engineer-Secretary stated that there was a second case of this kind, and one other consumer had re-stepped a pole which had come down on his property. This had assisted the work 'of restoration.