ELECTRIC LIGHT

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 90, 16 April 1917, Page 2

ELECTRIC LIGHT

•SCALE OF CHARGES IN WELLING- ■ ■ .-. ..■;.': ,; - TON.- ■ - References 'have -beeri' made recently by correspondents in these columns to. the scale of charges fixed,by.the corporation for electric light,. and it lias been asked why the rate for large consumers is more favourable than that for small customers:" A Post reporter to-day asked the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) for an explanation. The Mayor staged that in the scale everyone was charged 8d per unit gross. The sliding scale of discounts ranged from 2d' to 5d per unit, and. -was based on the Commercial value of the consumption. The capital expenditure, the Mayor stated, was greatly increased in supplying small consumers, and thero was a greater proportion of cost for maintenance, book-keeping, and meter-reading. "To give you an idea of the work involved in supplying_ the small consumers,, whom the council of course values, we' have thousands _ol monthly accounts where the consumption amounts to not more than six units, the money value varying from Is to 3s per month. The Government, which is a very large consumer, has a flat rate of 5d iper unit up to 600. When GOO units arG exceeded, It pays the Government to come. Tinder the scale that applies Jto .private consumers—that is, over 600 units the discount scale ia , proportionately higher." With regard to the administration charges, the> Mayor, pointed ont that each consumer, whether taking 6 or 600 units in a month, had an m<&vidual wire and meter, and the same labour was involved in reading ih&.meter. For one meter-reading of a big , consumer' the council receives as much as for a hundred readings of small consumers. There are a hundred, wires and meteis to maintain against one in the case °f the big consumer. Another aspect of the question was that tho council must compete for big customers with other systems of generation, suction gas plants, etc.. It"'was necessary to secure these big customers, since the big gross output enabled the council to reduce the charge to all consumers by producing on the large and economical scale. If none but small consumers were catered for, the big plant would not be warranted, and ithe cost of working would be proportionately Mgher. " The - corporation light' undertaking," \the Mayor ajdded, "is in a very healthy position, as it has been since Mr. Hislop, ex-Mayor, completed the agreement with the old. syndicate for itss municipalisa- " | tion. The course then taken, has beeri fully : justified. Considerable progress ' i has been made, and the opportunities for development are great. At the same time, we must remember ithat, while we may continue to accumulate funds by way of reserve, when the- war ends the council will be faced with the need'for considerable expense in adjustments and j extensions. These cannot be -undertaken I at present owing to the difficulty in obtaining labour and material. The council is seized of it-he necessity, for doing all it possibly can to assist the small I consumer, but it must also consider what is the best approximate proportion of th« charges for the good of the whole enterprise." •