Coin meters still pondered

Press, 29 April 1981, Page 6

Coin meters still pondered

Coin-operated electricity meters should be available ior persons Who really needed them to overcome problems in paying high power bills, Christchurch councillors said yesterday. But they were unsure about the best way* to deterS?, lne , n ? e d- The Municipal .Electricity Department's General Manager (Mr. J. H. Donald) said that if’was sometimes a case of' poor financial management, not the lack of money to pay bills. Some of the 520 prepayment meters already in use became jammed with coins, more than $lOO worth, be'regular trips by M.E.D. employees to collect the money, he said. Some persons used the meters “as a convenient form of money box,” Mr Donald said. Cr A. J. Graham said that some use of the Social Welfare Department and other agencies might be made to help the council determine need for the meters. Cr Vicki Buck, who earlier proposed the supply of more meters, said that there were many cases of real need for them in Christchurch. “These meters must be an,

awful nuisance,” she said. "I don’t think people will ask for them unless they really need them. Perhaps the people themselves are best able to assess that need.”

In a report to the public utilities committee. Mr Donald emphasised the cost of installing and maintaining the coin meters. Consumers without prepayment meters would, in effect, subsidise meter users by about 60c per consumer each year if 250 more meters were distributed. The present subsidy, seen in those terms, would be about 40c per consumer.

uy duuui out per consumer each year if 250 more meters were distributed. The present subsidy, seen in those terms, would be about 40c per consumer. Mr Donald recommended a rental charge of $52 a year for each consumer using a meter. That proposal was defeated by the councillors. Cr Buck said that it was “rather naughty” for the report to even suggest such a charge to help recover meter costs. That would hit the people who could least afford to meet power costs. If any extra charge had to be made, perhaps it could be done by charging consumers with meters at a slightly higher rate, she said. Cr M. R. Carter said that that would be illegal. In that case, Cr Buck Said, perhaps the extra cost of

Mr Donald recommended a rental charge of $52 a year for each consumer using a meter. That proposal was defeated by the councillors.

Cr Buck said that it was “rather naughty” for the report to even suggest such a charge to help recover meter costs. That would hit the people who could least afford to meet power costs. If any extra charge had to be made, perhaps it could be done by charging consumers with meters at a slightly higher rate, she said.

meters should be accepted as a community responsibility. She said the suggestion of an annual charge for meters was “ludicrous." “It is one of the most penal things I have seen the M.E.D. do for some considerable time.”' Electric vehicle There was a case for pride in '. motor-control achievements of the University of Canterbury's electric vehicle project. But it would not be appropriate for the Government to support financially the construction of a second electric vehicle by the project team, he said. Mr Birch said that Government funds generally had to be directed towards viable products and processes. The principal obstacles in the way of electric cars were battery technology, and th* ability to design and manufacture a vehicle that could compete against mass-pro-duced cars in terms of cost, reliability, comfort, and appearance. "I believe these impediments generally require resources beyond those available in New Zealand for solution,” Mr Birch said.