ECONOMISE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18681, 3 May 1926, Page 9

ECONOMISE.

REQUEST TO CONSUMERS. HEAVY OVERLOAD AT COLERIDGE. The increasing demand? made on i/ie Lake Coleridge power station, and tin- j heavy overload that the gent-rating | plant is being called ui"in to cati.S J have necessitated the ist'ie ot a wurnu.g to consumers by Mr 11. G. Mac Gibbon, District Electrical Engineer. In an official notice published in Saturdays issue of The Press, ' M l ; Mac Gibbon states that, to date, supply has been maintained as the result ot the co-operation ot large consume!s who, on request, and at some considerable inconvenience to themselves, materially have reduced their demand during peak load hours. As overload conditions will become more severe during May and June, the Department asks all consumers to co-operat-e by cutting down their demand to a minimum, and by avoiding the unnecessary use of any electrical equipment between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on ordinary week days, and between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Fridays. Not a Demand. Though the Departmental notice is described as a ''wanting to consumers" it has been interpreted in some quarters as a demand that the use of Lake Coleridge power must be restricted. Mr Mac Gibbon told a reporter on Saturday that the notice was not a demand to restrict, but a request to curtail the unnecessary use of power, especially between the periods mentioned. "You can assure the public," Mr Mac-Gibbon said, "that all sources of supply will bo exhausted before restrictions are imposed. But if consumers do not economise wo may reach a I stage when all available sources of relief will be insufficient to cope with tho demand, and then- restrictions will have to be imposed. But Ido not anticipate that it, will be necessary to do so if consumers will co-operate on the lines mentioned. Economy'on the part of consumers will remove the necessity for imposing restrictions. I am quite sanguine that with the help of consumers we will get through quite easily." Friday Night's Demand. The wintry conditions experienced on Friday night brought) about a state of affairs similar to that which ruled on tho previous Friday—April 23rd —with the important difference that the Department having arranged with the Tramway Board to supply from its stand-by plant, 1000 k.w. every Friday night, no part of the district served by Lake Coleridge power was suddenly plunged into darkness. Last Friday the demand for additional power manifested itself early. Between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. the load at the Addiugton sub-sta.tioii reached 11,920 k.w., an overload of 1920 k.w. At tho same period tfne mean load at the lake power-house was 14,570 k.w. The tramway Board's stand-by plant, which was in readiness, was able to provide relief to the extent ot' 1000 k.w. two minutes after the necessity for it arose. Provision for Relief. An outline of the steps being taken "by the Department to meet; the increased demand for power between the present time and the date on which supply will be obtainable from the 7500 k.w v unit which is being installed in the extension of the Lake Coleridge power-liouse, appeared -in Thursday's issue of "The Press." Within a month considerable relief will be available when the No. 2 surge chamber is connected with the No. 1 surge chamber. At present, the gear for operating the gates is being installed. As to the new generator, the completion of the pipe lines to feed it is awaiting the arrival of the Lamer Johnson valves which are on board the steamer Port Hardy, which is expected to arrive at Lyttelton from "Wellington on Thursday.