POWER CUTS ORDERED

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27629, 9 April 1955, Page 6

POWER CUTS ORDERED

New Restrictions In M.E.D. Area

OPERATION FROM WEDNESDAY

Additional restrictions on the use of electricity in the Municipal Electricty Department’s area will come into operation on Wednesday. This has been decided by the electricity committee of the Christchurch City Council at an emergency meeting. The committee sat on Thursday afternoon.

On March fl the committee decided to ban, from March 14, the use of domestic water heaters between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day, and to ask industrial and commercial users to reduce consumption by 10 per cent. The committee on Thursday decided to extend these restrictions by banning the use of radiators between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and prohibiting shop window lighting after hours of business.

The new restrictions also include the prohibition of all electric advertising signs except between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. daily, and a ban on the lighting of car sales yards except between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the late shopping night.

The use of external lights, domestic or commercial, is prohibited except by authority for pedestrian protection and then restricted to one light not exceeding 25 watts. The lighting of outdoor sports grounds is restricted to two nights a week. A 50 per cent, reduction of lighting for indoor sports arenas is to be imposed. Mr J. C. Forsyth, engineer-manager of the Municipal Electricty Department, said that the electricity committee was confident that if all consumers complied with the restrictions immediately, the result would go a long way to ensuring that the consumption of electricity throughout the department’s supply area would be kept within the allocation made by the State Hydro-electric Department. An appeal was therefore made to all consumers to do their utmost to save the required amount of electricity.