ELECTRIC SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 235, 4 October 1935, Page 14

ELECTRIC SUPPLY.

DOMINION SYSTEMS.

INVESTMENTS, £33,000,000.

GOVERNMENT'S OBLIGATION. (By Telegraph— Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The capital invested in the electricsupply systems operating throughout the Dominion totals £32,823,944, which includes £12,903,410 of Government expenditure, and the gross revenue received for the year was £4,577,998. These figures were supplied in the Public Works Statement as presented in the House this afternoon by the Minister of Public Works, Mr. J. Bitchcner. After paying working costs, interest, sinking fund, and depreciation charges, the net profit for the year under review was £449,499, as compared with £400,489 for 1934, which indicates that the electric supply business as a whole is in a healthy condition. "It is gratifying to notice there is distinct evidence of expansion of business among the electric supply authorities," stated the Minister. "There has been an increased consumption of electrical energy amounting in tlic aggregate to approximately 7.35 per cent over that >>f 1934. New consumers have been connected at an average rate of approximately 050 per month, and the completed figures for the year show that the ratio of number of consumers of electricity to the total population of the Dominion is 23.(i per cent." After enumerating many of the suggestions offered, the Minister said some of Iho suggestions in respect of more extended uso of auxiliary generating plants actually increase the total cost. "It is indeed questionable if we have not been contributing by way of rebate on ordinary charges too much towards tho cost of these standby plants. It is recognised that the owner of such a plant, even when not operated, has to pay capital charges in respect to its original cost in addition to whatever he may have to pay to the Government for power purchased in bulk. It will be found in all cases that the amount p. id for power purchased is less than would have been the net operating cost (exclusive of capital charges) if the same amount of power had been generated in tho stations replaced by Government supply. Insurance Against Interruptions. "It is recognised that such plants have sonto value as an insurance against interruption, but that insurance js of special value to the owner much in excess of its value to tho system as a whole. In the North Islai system, the value of allowances made for these plants plus the cost of maintaining the Department's own standby amounts to about £80,000 per annum, a sum which is more than twice tho total annual operating cost of tho whole of the Government's own main generating plants in the same area.