Electricity use rises 6 per cent a year

Press, 27 January 1983, Page 9

Electricity use rises 6 per cent a year

An annual 6 per cent increase in electricity consumption is being recorded by the North Canterbury Electric Power Board.

If the consumption continued to increase at the same rate over the next five years, the board would need 30 per cent more electricity from the State than at present, said the general manager, Mr D. W. Harris, at a board meeting. He said it was imperative, particularly for the South Island, that the Clyde high hydro-electric dam, or any other dam. be well on the way before the end of the decade. Mr Harris said that if the present rate of increase in the use of electricity continued in the South Island, a further 500 megawatts of power would be needed by 1990.

The Clyde dam would be required by then just for ordinary use. Construction of new hydro stations had to begin soon as it took many years. If construction was delayed and there were no new outlets of electricity by the end of the decade, they would “have problems,” said Mr Harris. The South Island was dependent on hydro-electric power as it did not have the alternatives enjoyed by the North Island. Mr C. H. Tyson said that the South Island should be looking at other alternatives to generate electricity. He said that coal was a. great asset and should be used more fully. The chairman, Mr I. H Langford, said that water was a continuing resource Coal was not.