Electrical heating systems can be inspected at non-commercial display

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 27

Electrical heating systems can be inspected at non-commercial display

Energy costs have recently had a brief period in the public eye as a matter of newsworthy interest and the cost of electricity is no exception.

"Electricity today as an energy form is still relatively cheap, especially compared to prevailing world prices,” said Mr Colin de Lambert, the Senior Consumer Advisory Officer with the Christchurch Municipal Electricity Department. “Excluding GST the average home in Christchurch should cost about from $lOO to $2OO to heat over winter, while the more modern insulated

homes could be as little as $BO-$90.” While freely conceding that these figures were averages only Mr de Lambert believed that the costs were accurate in light of the 13 per cent rise in unit price of electricity that took place on April 1 in Christchurch. “We are only too pleased to go out and talk to specific groups or individuals if they require advice on winter heating needs, or other electrical questions,” Mr de Lambert said.

“We can also carry out home visits if consumers in the local area consider

that they need their heating equipment checked." Alternatively consumers of electricity shopping around for new ways of keeping the cold at bay this winter are welcome to drop into the new Electricity Centre operated by the advisory team at Armagh Street.

“We have on show a very wide range of up-to-date heating equipment and other electrical units that we can explain to consumers without any sales pressure or implication involved.” “At the conclusion of their visit we will be able to supply consumers with details of the equipment

they require and where they can obtain it,” Mr de Lambert said.

He also provided a general outline of the heating equipment available at present and the way the advisory service looks at heating concerns. “The way we look at it there is no such thing as just a heating problem, what consumers will have is a heat loss problem that should be examined. “We ask our consumers to examine the use of insulation in their homes as well as how they will warm up their house.” With many years of expertise to tap he can rattle off a list of heatcontaining remedies for all areas of a home.

For ceilings heat should be contained with an insulating medium in the ceiling, floors can be “tamed” with a variety of materials, even rising damp can be tamed with the placement of black polythene sheets over the ground. “If people are currently building a new home their mage of heating options to choose from will be greatly expanded and includes methods such as ceiling or under-floor heating which, if done properly, cannot be bettered.

“These systems are very easy to incorporate into, a home when it is still under construction, and are hard to better for efficiency.

"But the consumers in New Zealand are getting a great variety of electrical heating units to choose from this year.”