January power cuts ‘serious’

Press, 4 January 1988, Page 17

January power cuts ‘serious’

PA Wellington Large-scale electricity cuts expected this month will be serious for the community, says the president of the Electricity Supply Association, Mr Eric Johnston. Commenting on a threat by the Public Service Association to close down the eight North Island thermal power stations on January 12, Mr Johnston said he hoped reason would prevail. Cuts in electricity could have serious social consequences, affecting kidney machines, hospitals and traffic lights. His association had been informed about the possibilities of power disruption, but not about what the effects might be. He expected South Island reticulation to be secure, as all the thermal stations were in the North

Island. The association did not want to take sides, but the troubled relationships between Electricorp and the Public Service Association had been predictable when an attempt was made to turn a Government department into a company operating as a private enterprise. The thermal stations, fired by gas, coal or oil, make up 26.6 per cent of the nation’s generating capacity but a much higher proportion of North Island capacity, Mr Johnston said.

The largest hydro-elec-tric power stations are in the South Island. In the event of the thermal stations’ closing down, more power would need to be transmitted north through the Cook Strait cables. But the cable system is delicate, the

“Evening Post” reported.

Three cables are available, but only two are used with one acting as a spare. One of the cables was repaired in 1983 when a gas leak was detected, but it is still faulty. Mr Johnston said no rush by electricity supply authorities to build their own power stations was expected when new regulations come into effect today freeing the generation business. Electricity produced privately might be sold to either Electricorp or other customers, and distributed on the national grid. Mr Johnston said most authorities with the ability and local resources to do so had already built power stations, but some companies in the private sector have already expressed interest.