POWER BOARD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 237, 20 July 1936, Page 6

POWER BOARD

INCREASE IN REVENUE.

SUM OF £260 IN LAST MONTH.

REPORTS ON PROGRESS OF WORK

The Ashburton Electric Power Board met this morning when there were present Messrs E. F. Nicoll (chairman), W. H. Woods, J. Carr, W. G. Gallagher, J. Lambie, R. J. Mulligan, W. Bryant, H. Morris, H', C. Barton, H. J. Crothers, W. H. Rundle and J. W. M. Dart. The financial statement showed that revenue for June (with a comparison with that for June of last year) was as follows: Domestic £2859 1/s 9d (£2788 7s 2d), increase £7l 10s 7d; commercial £716 0s 2d (£627 11s 9d), increase £BB 8s sd; power £622 4s 3d (£532 13s), increase £B9 11s 3d; sundries £3B 15s (£2B 4s 10d), increase £lO 10s 2d; public lighting £333 7s 3d (£332 8s 7d). increase 18s 8d; total £4570 4s 5d (£4309 5s 4d) increase £260 19s Id.

Revenue for the three months of the financial year was £12,241 10s Id, compared. with £1h,976 fs 7d for tli© corresponding period of last year, an increase of £260 2s 6d. The main increase was £221 3s 6d in the domestic supply. Sales of power fell off by £52 Is 9d. Maximum Demand Increase. A total of 59 defective bluegum poles were replaced with ironbark in the past month. In regard to the 252 poles which were received, of these 33 were rejected owing to having no inspection brands or their brands having been erased. Of the remainder a few required reclassification, but a great majority of the poles were a really good sample. A large number of flow services were run involving a total of 27 poles, nine of which were in consumers aerials. * The maximum demand and unit consumption in the quarter ending June 30 showed a remarkable increase. The total units for the station for the quarter was 2,209,867 compared with 1,906,237 in the corresponding year showing an increase of nearly 16 per cent. In June 740,341 units were put through compared with 614,889, an increase of over 20 per cent. The station maximum demand of 2,010 KVA., was recorded in the middle of June. Largely as a resqlt of this increase, it was found that 11,000/6.000 volt transformers at the power house were considerably over loaded and some relief was necessary. This has been obtained by changing the main Tinwald transformer also .that at the Canterbury Roller Flour Mills from 6,600 to, 11,000 volts. At the same time: the capacity of the Tinwald transformer was changed from 50 to 75 KVA. At Carter’s Terrace the supply had become unsatisfactory and the 10 KVA transformer was replaced by a 15 KVA and heavier mains run iri that locality. A 10 KVA transformer at Allen’s Road was over loaded and was replaced by a 25 IvVA. The Low Tension mains from the power house were loaded to their full capacity and the 100 KVA transformer at the Triangle was carrying a small over load. The: matter of handling further increases in the town will be dealt with in another report. Transformer stocks had become very low and an over haul of the system was made to recover transformers wherever possible, as in some cases when stocks of small transformers had been low previously, unnecessary large transformers had been erected. On June 11 a heavy surge on the Government system caused a breakdown in the Failfield 11,000 v. feeder panels and a flashover on the terminal tower outside. A short circuit on the system earlier had damaged the: YYillowby panel and supply was being given over the auxiliary line until repairs could be made. A short circuit at YYillowby during the south-west storm on the 6th instant caused a further interruption due to damage on the auxiliary line switchgear. Repairs to the Wil/*>wby panel necessitated a complete shutdown of the system and this was done on the 12th instant. The current transformers on all the 11,000 volt switchgear are being altered in an endeavour to avoid a recurrence of these troubles, but it would appear to he only a temporary expedient. "With increasing loads and the necessity for more 11,000 volt panels together with the increased rupturing capacity of the switchgear necessitated by the combining of YVaitaki and Coleridge, he was considering the replacement of the 11,000 volt switchgear at Ashburton. The Inspector (Mr AY. G. Welsh) stated that a good deal of installation work had been offering during the month and some difficulty had been experienced in getting the work done owing to it being spread over all parts of the County. Five Storage type ranges had been installed and this figure would have been increased loi tlie month, but they had been unable to procure enough ranges. Two water heater and eighteen motors of various sizes had also been connected. Sixty consumers had had extensions to then installations which included a Neon sign, a 6000 egg incubator, motors tor shearing and pumping, etc. Ibe retest work for the month was: —Tested 06, total tested 2061, requiring attention 32 (1241). The Running-Engineer (Mr A. T. Saunders) reported that units supplied by Coleridge had totalled 738,000, and from the Diesel 2,341, a grand total of 740,341.6. The Diesel plant was running for 22 hours 25 minutes using 196 gallons of fuel oil, making 67 hours 44 minutes running and 653 gallons of fuel oil for the quarter. Due probably to a surge on the system there was a flashover on No. 9 cubicle and also the public works cubicle on Thursday, 11th June. All power was off from 3.45 to 4.45 p.m. approximately. The load usually carried on No. 9 cubicle was being carried on No. 3 in the mean-balance-sheet for the year ended on March 31, 1936, was received from the Government Auditor, certified as correct, and it was adopted.