Cold water a ‘oncer’

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 1

Cold water a ‘oncer’

Radio stations will in future broadcast warnings when the Municipal Electricity Department intends to cut domestic waterheating. However, long cuts such as that on Tuesday will not happen again this win» ter, according to the general manager of the M.E.D. (Mr J. P. Shelley). "It happens at this time of the year, at the beginning of winter, every year,” said Mr Shelley. Had the M.E.D. not checked the demand on power on Tuesday it would have cost the department $400,000, and this cost would eventually have been passed on to the consumer. Domestic power was measured by a single metering system in the M.E.D. area, and this included water-heating, said Mr Shelley. Under this system, the M.E.D. retained the right to control waterheating when necessary. If water-heating was not controlled by supply authorities in New Zea« land, another power station the size of Benmore would have to be built, he said. The cost to the M.E.D., and Christchurch consumers, would be an extra $1.25M each year. Tuesday’s cuts were caused by a higher demand than the M.E.D. had planned for. Now that a

new peak had been reached, the M.E.D. could work under this level, and the problem should not arise again, said Mr Shelley. Water-heating was switched off again yesterday for a short period, but the sunny weather, and consequent decline in demand, saved the need for further cuts, said the chief engineer of the M.E.D. (Mr W. G. Johnstone). The M.E.D. pays a bulk tariff to the Electricity Division of the Ministry of Energy. It pays for the maximum load required for the Christchurch area, and for the number of units sold each year. The maximum-load tariff is averaged over six peaks, said Mr Shelley, but it was difficult to pre« diet the highest of those peaks. “We are so much subject to the weather," he said. He suggested that households with cylinders of 40 gallons or more would not have noticed Tuesday’s cuts, “unless they had very large families, or used an awful lot of hot water.” Consumers could cut their water-heating bills by installing larger cylinders, of say 100 gallons, or by putting them on the “night rate," which was about half the price of the daytime rate.