Power For Industry

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28824, 19 February 1959, Page 12

Power For Industry

The suggestion by the Minister of Works (Mr Watt) that any industry requiring large blocks Of electricity should be permitted to generate its own supply is plain common sense, it is a pity that the policy of the State Electricity Department and half a dozen past Governments . made it sound like a grudging concession. Now that he has made the proposal tentatively, Mr Watt should take the earliest opportunity of getting Government approval for a firm promise. The refusal Of the State to let anyone else use part of the vast hydroelectric potential of the South Island has been an effective bar to much enterprise. It has acted in two ways. First, the State could not afford to build a costly generating station merely on the off-chance that someone (would come; along some day. and buy the output. Quite apart from the cost of the white elephant lying idle, the department would have no idea how big the elephant should be. One too large would be extravagant; one too small would be useless. The State has no right to gamble with the taxpayers’ money to provide unwanted surpluses of power. - In the second place, even if the State had a saleable surplus, its policy has always been to sell all its power on a uniform-

scale, regardless of the cost of delivery to a particular location. For instance, if the Cook Strait cable is installed, the price of power from Benmore will be the same in Wellington as in Canterbury.

The costs are averaged over the whole business. While electricity generally, particularly for domestic purposes, is cheap in New Zealand, the network price of perhaps a penny a unit is too dear for a factory where power is a major cost. What such an industry wants is power at about the cost of production at the site of an efficient generating station, .say ,3d a unit. If it is allowed to have its own generating plant, that -is what it will get; and if Mr Watt’s statement means anything it means he favours giving this right to any reasonably sound enterprise. Mr Watt’s statement should encourage those experts who have already explored the promising prospects of carbide production and other electrochemical industries. They now have some incentive to seek backing for their plans. Liftr ing the dead hand of departmental control can open the way to a great industrial future for the South Island. One qualification remains. If. . for any reason, the Cook Strait cable project is abandoned, the department will, accidentally, have a substantial surplus of power in the South Island. It would then be ’necessary for the department to revise its pricing, plans (as suggested by the Christchurch deputation to Mr Watt) and offer a long-term, contract at bargain prices to any undertaking able to use it. However, the information given to the deputation by the general manager (Mr A. E. Davenport) shows that the department still expects the cable to be laid.