Municipal Power Supply Began 60 Years Ago

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30192, 25 July 1963, Page 17

Municipal Power Supply Began 60 Years Ago

The history of public electricity supply in Christchurch has beta one of rapid advance, linked with the growth of tbe city, from a handful of consumers using about £3O worth of power a month to more than 71,000 consumers and an annual revenue of £3m after 60 .■ ears.

Today will mark the sixtieth year of municipal power supply in Christchurch. The steam boilers which generated the city’s first power, on July 25. 1903. were superseded in 1915 by the h .dro-electric supply from Like Coleridge. The general manager of the Municipal Electricity Department <Mr J. P. Shelley) said yesterday that his department intended to mark the golden jubilee of power being switched on in the city only by producing a supplement to the annual report Later in the year. This would include a history of the department and of the birth and subsequent progress of electrical supply.

This year, he said, was the first in which the department’s revenue had exceeded £3m. Before 1903 Christchurch residents relied on their own means of power or small power plants, for lighting, heating, and other purposes Streets were illuminated by kerosene and, later, gas lamps. First Plant Although even at the turn of the century hydro-elec-tricity was envisaged as the eventual source of supply for the city—a scheme to harness the Waimakariri rivet had been investigated—'the City Council decided to adopt an engineer's recommendation to use steam from the refuse destructor for power generation in the meantime.

A plant consisting of two 16Q-horsepower engines, coupled to two 100-kilowatt generators. was installed. This supply was made available to the public on July 25. 1993. The first consumer was the City Council and the second the Clarendon Hotel. There were eight consumers after the first month of supply, and the income from the sale of current was £34 14s 2d. In the next month the number of consumers rose to 19, and 2300 units of electricity were used for a net revenue of £6O 19s 4d.

By September of the next year there were 85 consumers. and the income was £3Bl 6s Bd. The average price was just under 5d a unit. In September last year revenue was more than £250.000 from about 71.000 consumers. The average price was 1.38 d a unit. Lake Coleridge The development of the Waimakariri scheme was still being advocated, but the Coleridge project had been discussed, and strongly advocated in some quarters as a more comprehensive alternative of power supply for the city. It was finally taken up by the Public Works Department, and became the first large Government hydro-electric development in New Zealand. The City Council’s reports of 1912-13 contain the text of a provisional agreement between the Government and the city for supply from

Lake Coleridge. The City Council undertook to take not less than 50' k.w. not later than May 1, 1914. Regular supply commenced. however, some 11 r mths later. The city's steam boilers were kept only as an emergency source of supply, or to boost the hydro-electric r/pply. and in later years they served to heat the old tepid baths- in Manchester street.

The completion of the Waitaki hydro-electric development in 1934 marked another milestone Ln the city's electrical progress. A significant advance in more recent years was the generation of power from the Roxburgh scheme. During its 60 years of operation the Municipal Electricity Department has extended its area from the handful of consumers in the immediate inner city to cover, today, the whole "of Greater Christchurch and the counties of Waimairi, Halswell. and portion of Heathcote.