BETTER RELATIONS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 297, 12 September 1934, Page 11

BETTER RELATIONS

Power Supply Authorities and Consumers - ENGINEER’S PLEA A'plea for better relations between supply authority and consume! "» the subject of n paper read to.the conference of power board en = ln .^‘ 9 bv Mr. 11. W. Childs. Business ethics, he said, were the busts of success only When they were in accord with the pc soual element concerned. Otherwise they might as well be deposed for the smart but short-sighted policy of Do. do, do, bo always on the <lo> don’t do your friends, then they 11 d J °s’upply authorities equipped "'U} 1 engineering skill and executive ability, but who failed to cultivate the com personal goodwill and conf dence. were losing valuable custom, said Mr. Childs. Fostering Goodwill. ‘‘The engineer may engineer, the manager may manage, the Sil les> department may canvass and but unless their efforts are clinched by the mutual goodwill and understanding of all concerned, reunite will lag. To foster this goodwill and understanding is then the first and all-time job of the supply authority. To tune in, so to speak, with your consumers, to get to know your consumers opinions of your service, and their view point and side of any question This is surely common sense, even f its application is a little rare. Make it the basis of all your dealings with consumers and as psychology may be defined as 75 per cent, couimbn sense, have all of the psychological factor needed. The personal element is imperative, it is the nerve centre through tfhlch essential contacts aro made and maintained, and must be constituted aC ‘‘prfmkive goats are s aid to have blazed tracks through which, ultinutte* ly, all and sundry followed, hence our ancient highways. Our Public Works Department as a supply authority lia\ e perchance mistaken one of those snug old highways and preferred it as a general route.’' During the past, consumers had often been catered for in a way inconsistent with their needs, and had been penalised by an inequitable pre-determined consumption charge. For example, they had been charged the first 80 units at 3d. per unit, £1; the next 120 units, 2d. per unit, fl; all in excess, Id. per unit. Here the large consumer had no aimculty in reaching the ground floor, and his units would nominally cost him id. per unit. On the other hand, the small and probably least able to pay consumer was excluded from the ground floor, and his unit costs were at the higher rates. Procedure in Kaiapoi. In the Kaiapoi district, a reasonable scale of charges had effected in last season’s returns a 25 per cent, increased unit consumption. By other means the supply authority could keep in touch with consumers. “Consumers who dodge their payments, whether by absconding or by taking advantage of the supply authorities’ tolerance, are a menace to load building, psychologically and otherwise,” said Mr. Childs. ‘‘The disconnecting of those consumers from the supply, following preliminary threats, is not conducive to the promotion of mutual goodwill, even among consumers themselves. The paying consumer naturally endorses Such action, and so often sets on edge the teeth of other procrastinating payers, the supply authority becoming the scapegoat. As a result of our efforts, disconnected consumers with the authorities’ service lines running to their premises, and their debit balances showing in the authorities’ books, are becoming a thing of the past. Likely absconders have been forestalled; disconnected consumers canvassed, reconnected, and their debit accounts are being collected, in sotao cases amounts which have been written off as Irrecoverable. The means employed is a simple mechanical switching device, designated as a ‘fixed charge Collector,’ and wired in series with the consumer's meter or meters.” It was fully realised that service was the goal toward which the efforts of all supply authorities were directed, concluded Mr. Childs. Mr. Childs is the electrical engineer to the Kaiapoi Borough Council. AN ELECTRICAL ISSUE Power Boards in Dispute With Municipalities A correspondent who is following with interest the proceedings of the Power Boards’ Conferences being held in Wellington this week sends us his comments: FOOT-THE-BILLIAM (With apologies to “Father William’’). “You are young. Mr. Power Board,” the Councillor said, "And your load most uncommonly thin, Yet you built miles of line, and piled ‘overhead’, , Why get peeved at the mess that you re . in?” “It’s our right” said the Board, “for the country to squeal, While you reap where you ve patiently sown. . , . . i In the country, what’s yours is electrically mine, , ~ What's pastorally mine, is my own. “You are young, Mr. Power Board the wise Counsel said,, “And remote from the high tension Yet you want all the plums and the cream of the rates, „ Oh boy! but you want a fine time. “O’Sheame!” quoth the Power Board, “O’Sheame! learned man. Who’s speaking of plums and or Why transfers of thousands to ease off the rates, . . . Reserves,—and your threatemngs ot steam?” “When you’re young. Mr. Power Board, two hundred at ten, ' . Ahd eight pounds for everything over. Is mighty good fare—till you’re grown up like me, . , ~ You can’t hope to lie down in clover. “You’ll bo sick” said the Board, “when this racket is done, With a kind of electric malaria, . When you wake up and find that we ve fired our big gun, And made you the. Boards outer area!!” _ „ „ —E.Kw.H.