Power-charge rally heartens protesters

Press, 5 November 1979, Page 1

Power-charge rally heartens protesters

The 60 Christchurch families refusing to pay 25 per cent of their power bills are even more resolute after a special “solidarity rally” yesterday.

“We are’ more deeply committed than ever,” said a spokesman for the group, Mr M. G. McNabb. “We will continue to make our stand.”

The group decided about five weeks ago that it would pay only 75 per cent of power bills in protest against electricity price rises this year. The group voluntarily turned off mains power supply from midnight on

and used other fuels for cooking and light. “It was hard to do without it,” said Mr McNabb

“and it is going to be harder when the big red letter conies.”

He said that the group would not put pressure on families to follow through to pow’er cut-off; each family would make its own decision. Television was one thing that families participating in the rally did not have to do without yesterday A set was connected to a portable generator for Sunday viewing. A protester, Mr B. de Jong, said that a support group had grown round the protest and had offered to supply essential services when power was cut off. “They will take our frozen food,” he said. Mr McNabb said that a group at Porirua threatening to pay only 75 per cent of power charges were first seeking Trades Council and local authority support. In Christchurch, one family had been sent a final M.E.D. notice and others had had reminder notices.

The general manager of the M.E.D. (Mr J. H. Donald) said last evening that after final notices have been issued to defaulting consumers, M.E.D. repre-

sentatives would visit each family to discuss the matter.

It was very unlikely that the M.E.D. would cut off power when “only a small amount” was overdue, Mr Donald said. “We will keep adding the 25 per cent unpaid portion of the bill to accounts. While that is only a small amount we will not cut power off. When it becomes a bigger amount, we will have to.” Mr Donald did not define a bigger amount. “A compromise cannot be reached,” he said. '“They are paying less than their prescribed accounts.”

Mr Donald said that price rises this year had not increased the number of disconnections for unpaid bills. • More houses were disconnected between July and August last year than between the corresponding period this year, he said.

The figure last year was 197, five more than this year.

“Cutting off power is the last thing we want to do,” he said. “It is a lastresort measure, when everying else has failed.”

Power was restored as sodn as arrangements were made to pay the bill. The authority always tried to help in genuine cases of hardship, he said.