RESTRICTIONS ON POWER

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27907, 2 March 1956, Page 10

RESTRICTIONS ON POWER

General M.E.D. Cut On Sunday POOR RESPONSE TO APPEAL

Electricity consumers in the Christchurch Municipal Electricity Department’s area have not responded well to an appeal for power sayings, and the electricity committee of the City Council yesterday decided that there would be a general power cut over the whole area for two hours from 2 p.m. on Sunday. The committee was given the information that instead of confining themselves to 801.600 units for one day consumers used 971,774, and consumption on Wednesday was 21.2 per cent, above allocation.

The committee agreed that the restrictions already announced were to remain in force, and appealed to consumers to observe the restrictions more effectively.

“The result of the appeals for increased saving will be carefully watched, and will be considered at an emergency meeting of the committee next week,” said Cr. G. Manning, chairman of the committee. “If the results are unsatisfactory and the storage position has not changed, the committee will be obliged to impose daily power cuts throughout the area in an effort to obtain the necessary reduction in consumption. It is hoped that this will not be necessary, but it can only be avoided by substantial voluntary savings by all consumers.” The Riccarton Borough Council hatwater heater control equipment, and this, Cr. V. G. Spiller, chairman of the electricity committee, said last evening, should enable the borough to keep within its allocation. The position would be reviewed at a meeting on Monday, he said. “There has been no apparent saving yet from domestic users in the county, and unless we get more cooperation from the public some drastic steps will have to be taken,” said the clerk of the Heathcote County Council (Mr C. W. Morris) yesterday. The county was well above the allocation, he said. One of the industrial firms in the county was co-operating with the council to the fullest extent, he said.