WATER-HEATING RESTRICTIONS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27961, 7 May 1956, Page 7

WATER -HEATING RESTRICTIONS

ANNOUNCEMENT ON BREACHES “HEATING WILL BE TURNED OFF ” Where electricity, consumers in the Municipal Electricity Department’s district fail to comply with the water heating restrictions their water heaters will be turned off if they are unable to give a convincing explanation within 24 hours of a notice being served on them. * The engineer-manager of the department <Mr G. H. Battersby) said that his instructions on the matter were explicit and in the ordinary course, unless a consumer came forward with some “hard luck story” or a convincing explanation, he would not hesitate to have the water heater disconnected. Where a “hard luck story” was advanced it might be necessary to refer the case to the electricity committee for a decision, but otherwise he would take action only after conferring with his supply engineer to whom inspectors looking for breaches were responsible and who was generally in charge of consumers’ services and conditions, he said. Up till last Thursday when equipment could only be disconnected when an offender was caught a second time after first receiving a warning, Mr Battersby said that no w ter heaters had been disconnected, but a number —though not very many—breaches had been detected. He did not think any consumers had been found using electric watef heaters where they had an alternative system of heating water. Since Thursday, Mr Battersby said that three breaches—he believed that they were all for infringements of the water heating restrictions—had been detected and notices had been served cn the offenders requesting them, if they wished, to make an explanation, in 24 hours. They would have to make the explanation today. Four inspectors were specifically looking for breaches of water heater or domestic radiator restrictions, he said, but all other inspectors—there are about 16 altogether—were calling as often as possible in whatever districts they were operating in search of such breaches.

HYDRO WORKS AT WHAKAMARU

LAKE FILLED DURING WEEKEND (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 6. Lake Whakamaru is full. At 7.30 p.m. today the water of New Zealand’s newest lake reached the mean operating level, eight feet below the top of the dam, and the engineers opened the spillway gates to allow the overflow to go down the Waikato river to other lakes in the power generation system. Final tests on two of Whakamaru’s generators will start on Wednesday. Power can be fed into the North Island grid as soon as these tests are finished. In spite of appeals to consumers to reduce the use of power while the lake was being filled, demands on the North Island grid increased by 15 per cent, over last week-end’s demand. Storms over most of the islahd caused the power demand to soar. Heavy rain in the catchments of the power lakes, together with skilled work by engineers in switching the power load from station to station, resulted in the filling of the new lake. From 1 p.m. on Saturday, when the engineers shut off the flow of -the Waikato river to power stations downstream by closing Whakamaru’s spillway gates, to 7.30 p.m. today, the lake level rose 15ft, or sft above the level hoped for.