ELECTRIC POWER EXTENSION

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22413, 28 May 1938, Page 16

ELECTRIC POWER EXTENSION

* Scheme for North Canterbury RETICULATION OF TWO COUNTIES i The North Canterbury Electric Power Board has received the sanction of the Local Government Loans Board for the raising of a loan of £26,500 foy the complete reticulation of Cheviot County, and this proposal will be placed before the ratepayers of Cheviot County on Tuesday next. Public meetings were held at Parnassus and Cheviot on Thursday, at which the whole scheme was explained to the ratepayers by the chairman of the board (Mr A. Cowie), Messrs L. B. Evans, J. Paton (Cheviot County representative on the board), and the engin-eer-secretary (Mr A. Buckingham). The meetings showed considerable enthusiasm at the proposal to obtain power, Mr Buckingham told a representative of “The Press” yesterday, In the event of the loan proposal being carried, he said, the board would proceed with the construction work in the district as soon as the material for the transmission lines could be obtained. He estimated that provision would have to be made for supplying about 250 consumers. This figure represented practically all the residents in the county, which was fairly closely settled.

Before the board was formed in 1928 portions of Eyre, Rangiora, and Kowai Counties were served with power by the counties, the larger consumers being supplied directly by the Public Works Department. Subsequently the board assumed control of all existing systems north of the Waimakariri river, with the exception of those in the boroughs of Rangiora and Kaiapoi, which are still under the control of the respective boroughs. In 1928 the reticulation of the remaining parts of the three counties was begun by the board and extended to Oxford and Ashley Counties. The bulk of the reticulation in these areas was carried out in the next three years.

The original loan proposal for the five counties was £ 160.000. Representations were made to the board in 1633 bv residents of Waipara County and bv the proprietors of the Timeworks and flourmills in that county for a supply of electric power. The outcome was that practically the whole of Waioara Cbuntv was added to the hoard’s reticulation district. In the following year the ratepayers of Waipara County carried a poll authorising the raising of a loan of £37.000 for the reticulation of the whole county. This work has been in progress since then and is now almost complete. Additional Points of Supply Negotiations were made last year among the Cheviot and Amuri County Councils, the Power Board, and the Public Works Department for the reticulation of these two northern counties. Arrangements were completed in which the Public Works Department has agreed to extend its 33,000 volt transmission line from the Southbrook sub-station, near Rangiora, to Culverden, and to provide the Power Board with two additional points of supply, one at Waipara for Waipara and Cheviot Counties, and the other at Culverden for Amuri County. The board has now completed an agreement with the Department of Health for the bulk supply of power to the Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer. The demand for power at Hanmer will be much greater when the proposed new hospital for men at an estimated cost of £70,000, is completed. The hospitals will actually take about one-third of the whole supply for Amuri. The Public Works Department has already, begun the survey of the new transmission line to Culverden. A resolution was carried at the last meeting of the board to make application to the Local Government Loans Board for the sanction for a loan of £38,850 for the complete reticulation -of Amuri County, including Hanmer. In the event of the Loans Board giving its approval, meetings will be held throughout the county to explain the proposal, after which a poll of ratepayers will be taken. Supply in Hanmer Township Hanmer township is at present supplied with electric power from a small hydro plant rpn by the Health Department, and originally installed to suoply the hospital, but later extended to parts of the township. The existing distribution will ■be taken over by the Power Board and extended, and the hydro plant will probably be used as a stand-by for the hospital. The board thus has a big construction programme ahead and will be fully occupied with new work for the next three years. During the 10-year period from the establishment of the board to the present the number of consumers has increased from 1025 to 2676. and the number' of / units sold from 1,500,000 to 6,400,000, representing an increase in revenue from £ 10,280 to £34,562. Apart from sinking and depreciation funds and other small reserves a net profit of £6581 was realised over the period. The average price a unit for domestic purposes has decreased from 5.1 d to 1.85 d.

In the present system there are about. 600 miles of transmission and distribution lines in the board’s area. Members of the staff number 45, including emnloyees on construction and maintenance work and office administration.