BULK POWER CHARGES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25549, 17 July 1948, Page 6

BULK POWER CHARGES

INCREASE FOR MED. t £30,000 EFFORT TO PROTECT CONSUMERS Although bulk power will cost the Municipal Electricity Department about £30.000 a year more under the new contract with the State Hydroelectric Department, it is hoped that the new charges may be absorbed ; without any increase in consumers accounts. Officers of the M.E.D. are in Wellington discussing conditions of the contract, and they will make representations for the transfer to tW,.; M.E.D. supply of some big undertakings now receiving power direct from the department. If these proposals are approved, increased revenue will assist in meeting the higher power bill. The previous M.E.D. conttW* t covered the period from 1937 to 1947; but for the first half of this year power was supplied at the old rate From July 1 the new charges wul be enforced, representing an increase of almost 10 per cent, on last years power bill of £286,810. "We were told that the Cabinet had fixed the new rates and that they would not be changed,” said the Mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews) yesterday. Previously local authorities had been wM to negotiate the contract price. "I doubt whether any power supply authority in New Zealand supplies its consumers as cheaply as we doWherever possible we have returned our profits to the consumers by reducing power charges,” Mr Andrews continued. "The Government certainly would not make much out oi us in that respect.” he added, commenting on the fact that, the State Hydro-electric Department pays to* come tax and the M.E.D. does not. For the year ended March 31. MMB- - M.E.D, operating profit on the ttje of current was reduced to £lo,«w> chiefly as a result of power rationing, he said. The year before it had been £30.000; but even that profit W a J not great, considering that about £1.500.000 was invested in the undertaking. If the necessity for power rationing remained, revenue wouid still be affected. (The Dunedin City Council will consider on Monday a new schedule o' electricity charges to give an estimated increase in revenue of £21.008 The main reasons given are increased costs of wages and materials, and depleted revenue through rationing. No mention is made of the new bulK power contracts. These are the first increases in unit rates in Dunedin since the city electricity departmen l began operations in 1907.)