Power Charges

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30633, 26 December 1964, Page 12

Power Charges

Sir, —Once again we have the suppliers of electricity under fire, this time from a so-called enlightened section of the community, the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Mr M. L. Newman’s statement that in the region of Lyttelton persons living across the street pay 5d or 2[d a unit for electricity because they are in different local bodies, shows his abysmal ignorance of electric power charges. The Lyttelton Borough Council supplies electricity to all the port area, the only contiguous border with another supply authority being with the Canterbury Central Electric Power Board in the Rapaki area. No supply authority which actually borders Lyttelton has rates of either 5d a unit or 2}d a unit but the council itself does have both of these rates, both available for the same type of consumers—sd a unit for commercial lighting and 2id a unit for commercial heating or power. Why must

local bodies be continually sniped?—Yours, etc., LET’S BE FAIR. December 4, 1964. [Mr M. L. Newman, managing director of P. Feron and Son, Ltd., said yesterday that he understood that, commercial power sold by the Lyttelton Borough Council cost 21 d a unit plus 3s 6d per horsepower per month. The Lyttelton Harbour Board, a contiguous power authority, charged for commercial power at the rate o f 3jd a unit, recently reduced from 5d a unit.]