Power Charges Compared

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30826, 11 August 1965, Page 18

Power Charges Compared

Comparisons made recently of power charges in the Christchurch metropolitan area to support Riccarton borough’s discovery that it had the fourth lowest domestic power rate in the country could cause misunderstanding, because they were based on the year ended March 31, 1964, the SecretaryManager (Mr V. G. Mason) told yesterday's meeting of the Central Canterbury Electric Power Board. The domestic rates in that year were 0.898 d for Riccarton, 1.061 d for the Christchurch M.E.D., and 1.1 lid for Central Canterbury, said Mr Mason. The average rates for all units were 1.376 d for Riccarton, 1.356 for the M.E.D., and 1.301 d for Central Canterbury. The board had not reduced Banks Peninsula charges to the standard rate until August 1, 1964. so for the whole of the year ended March 31, 1964, consumers in that area were paying more, pushing up the average figure. In the year ended March 31, 1965, the M.E.D. domestic rate was 1.058 d and the allunits rate 1.355 d, he said. In the same year, Central Canterbury’s figures were 1.047 d for domestic power, and 1.269 d for all units, and for four months of that year, Banks Peninsula consumers had paid at a higher rate.