Power cuts may cost N.Z. export dollars

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 7

Power cuts may cost N.Z. export dollars

Exporting companies in Christchurch could lose a lot of money if power was reduced by the planned industrial action by the State power workers, according to the director of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, Mr lan Howell.

Mr Howell declined to name the type of exports that would be affected, but said the companies involved would be severely affected if they had to make do with a smaller loading of power. If the companies could not keep up production levels they could lose export orders, he said.

There were a number of big industries in Christchurch that would be severely affected because they relied on a continual supply of power for their particular manufacturing process.

Depending on how long the power was reduced, some companies could take several days to become fully operational again.

Mr Howell said the association would not be lobbying the Government to try and stop the industrial action, but was concerned that the electrical workers should be made aware of how they were

affecting people in other industries.

Emergency services would receive top priority in any rationing of power supplies if the reduction in electricity generation went ahead, said the general manager of the Municipal Electricity Department, Mr Chris Laurie. Both Christchurch Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital had their own emergency generators, and there were several stand-by plants throughout the city, said the acting superintendent for the Canterbury Hospital Board, Dr John Holmes.

The Kaikoura Hospital also had its own generator.

"The essential things would still function. We are not too worried about power at the moment,” said Dr Holmes.

The planned industrial action was not a foregone conclusion, but the M.E.D. would look into its impact on Christchurch with the Electricity Corporation, said Mr Laurie.

Until now, the M.E.D. had not given much thought to the action, he said.

It was possible that some areas would have to be specially rationed, said

the chief engineer for the M.E.D., Mr Hallett Mace, but he could not say which areas. Domestic users would probably also face power cuts at some stage during the planned 12-hour power reduction. Battery hens and their chicks could also be among the losers during a reduction in power. Newly hatched chickens could die from lack of heat, and hens might not lay eggs at all if they did not receive light at the regular times, said one poultry farmer in Christchurch last evening.

The owner of Almford Poultry Farm on the Main South Road, Mr Adam Heaps, said if the power was reduced for 12 hours or more, the cycle of the hens laying could be affected.

“It could upset their timing and they could go off their lay and into a moult instead,” he said. Mr Heaps, who breeds about 8000 hens, said he did not have an emergency generator, and did not think many operators would because of the expense.

Mr Heaps was optimistic, however, that the hens’ laying would not be affected for long.