POWER DEMAND Electricity Output Must Be Doubled In Nine Years

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30389, 13 March 1964, Page 15

POWER DEMAND Electricity Output Must Be Doubled In Nine Years

New Zealand’s present total output of electricity would have to be doubled within the next nine years to meet future demand, the engineer-manager of the Central Canterbury Electric Power Board (Mr S. E. Slatter) said at the opening of the twenty-eighth annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Electricians last evening.

“To reach our present position has taken 45 years, but we are now required to build the same amount of plant in one-fifth of the former time,” said Mr Slatter. “In the U.K. a similar problem may warrant additional borrowing power and this is a consideration which may be sought from Parliament.”

At March 31 last, the investment of the New Zealand Electricity Department had grown to £250 million, he said, and if the present trend continued, the expenditure on plant would rise to a mini-

mum of £7BO million by 1975.

The capital of the various supply authorities last year had also reached a record figure—£loo million, he said. “When the enormous investment in the wiring of 768,000 domestic installations alone is added to the cost of all the electrical equipment in the modern home, the impact of our industry on the national economy becomes apparent,” said Mr Slatter. “Generation, distribution and utilisation present formidable problems for the

future. Present registrations of competent people total 13,747, but last year, however, only 703 were absorbed by registration. There is concern at the low intake of apprentices into the electrical field, and indeed, there is recommended an increase of 50 per cent. The electrical enterprise must attract its share of labour and must project its image into all areas of recruitment.

“Electricity is a nationally inspired product, and the successful performance of the three fields, generation, distribution and utilisation, has in large measure been due to the foresight of the pioneers.

“The present charges for retail electricity in this country are modest by any standard. Generally speaking, the cost of electricity in the finished product of New Zealand manufacturing is a small fraction of the total cost. The availability of cheap retail power should not make us unmindful of the enormous cost of generation and distribution,” said Mr Slatter.

Other speakers last evening were the Mayor (Mr G. Manning), the Dominion president (Mr R. T. Mortiboy), the president of the Canterbury branch (Mr J- H. Box) and Mr C. Salisbury, a member of the organising committee.