Runholders ‘neglected’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34021, 10 December 1975, Page 20

Runholders ‘neglected’

Runholdeis in the Waimakariri Basin had! been sadly neglected., The board had been! “talking round” supplying them with electricity for far too long, said Mr W, H. Faulkner at a meeting of the Central Canterbury ElectricPower Board yesterday.

The sheep and cattle properties involved made a great contribution to Canterbury said Mr Faulkner. The; basin was one of the few' places in New Zealand without grid electricity. Those concerned had been getting sympathy for years, but how far on were they? Mr Faulkner said he had received a letter from one run-holder who planned to build a new house, and wanted to know if there could be a supply of elec-1

tricity. Mr Faulkner said he; had replied that the power guarantee, conservatively, would be $l5OO a year, but he had been told that it cost that much for diesel oil and petrol for station plant. He asked what had happened to his suggestion that liquid petroleum gas might be the answer for backcountry energy needs. The board’s general manager (Mr S. E. Slatter) said the board’s advice was that bottle gas would cost 120 c a therm, as compared with 35c to 40c. a therm for eleci tricity. Some years ago, it Iwas estimated that it wbuld cost $350,000 to connect five properties with the grid. Mr Faulkner said he was disgusted with the Rural Electrical Reticulation Council for offering subsidy only on diesel plants, and not on a connection to the grid. The chairman (Mr L. F. Chamberlain) said circumi stances had changed. Diesel

fuel had risen 300 per cent in cost. There was a chance that the board could get a cheaper point of supply from a proposed new Electricity Department line to the West Coast. Mr Slatter said that if the settlers agreed to the guarantees, the board could not put in a light supply line, as it would have to take into account the probability that everyone else, including skifields and bach owners, unsubsidised, would want the supply. To up-grade the line would be the board’s cost. Consumers could not be expected to subsidise the system.

Mr Slatter said the proposed alpine village at Castle Hill could greatly help the economics, and it was possible that a small hydro-electric scheme could be installed.

He was asked to report to the board on the possibilities,