Refund sought of conversion costs

Press, 12 August 1980, Page 18

Refund sought of conversion costs

Greymouth reporter

The West Coast Electric Power Board hopes to recover from the Government much of the $200,000 it incurred in converting former gas consumers to electricity, before the closing . of the Greymouth Borough Council’s gasworks •at the end of March. The money, was spent on capital ’ works, including rewiring and additional power lines, and the board experienced failures for a time when the additional electricity demand placed too much load on the system. The secretary-treasurer of the board (Mr R. L. Milne) estimated that about 200 of the 600 gas consumers in the borough had ranges. The purchase of electric ranges and necessary rewiring of houses to carry the additional load would have cost a householder about $lOOO each.

In addition, most of the business houses in Grey-, mouth had gas heaters, which also, had to be replaced by electricity. ,

“The conversion costs could be astronomical for; a body such as the Municipal Electricity Department in Christchurch,” Mr Milne said. He said that the board

had sought compensation from the Government for its costs of rewiring and changing consumers. The position had been the subject of a report by the New Zealand Electricity Department, and he was awaiting the outcome. “If help is not forthcoming, we could be facing a loss of $25,000 a year in interest and maintenance charges,” he said.

The conversion of the Roman Catholic schools block — both primary and secondary divisions — cost the St Patrick’s Parish Council $40,000 alone, and when the Greymouth Borough Council inquired from the Government whether the $117,000 allocated as compensation could be spent on non-pro-fit organisations, such as churches and halls, it was told that it could not.

All the compensation had to go to private, domestic consumers. The compensatory grant was approximately $3OO for a private domestic consumer, but it could not, in fairness, be issued like that, according to . the. Town Clerk of Greymouth (Mr B. P. Moreton.) However, each private domestic consumer would receive a minimum of $lOO, The council had claims before it ’of about $500,000, ranging from .$45

to $3OOO, with an average of $BOO. It would not be right to make a payment of $3OO where the ’ appliance was only a gas ring, which could be replaced by a kettle, when some persons have had a relatively new gas range replaced by an electric one, and a house has to be completely rewired at an average cost of $250,” Mr Moreton said. He said that a formula was being drawn up to be fair to all consumers. Assistance would only be paid on gas cookers, water heaters, and space heaters, and no assistance would be given’ to consumers whose appliances did not use 4500 cubic feet of gas in the 12 months preceding the closing. Assistance would be used in payment in the following order: (1) To pay the balance of any gas account for gas used at the installation and owing at the date of the cut-off. (2) To pay the balance owing for repairs or installation. (3) To pay charges oh the removal of pipe work. The balance available would then be paid to the West ■ Coast Electric Power Board to the conversion contractor as part-payment of conversions or replacements, or towards the deposit on hi r e-purchase arrangements.

Although the Borough Council has decided to make a minimum grant of $lOO, it had been agreed earlier that on gas cookers, purchased on or after October 1, 1978, assistance would be on the basis of 90 per cent of the : cost, decreasing each year by 5 per cent until 25 per cent of the cost would be paid on an appliance purchased on or after October 1, 1969, and before October 1, 1970. For water heaters and space heaters, the payments would decrease at the rate of 10 per cent a year?