THE VOLTAGE QUESTION

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 90, 16 April 1923, Page 6

THE VOLTAGE QUESTION

As the City Council has definitely decided upon supplying Wellington with electricity at 230 volts, instead of 100 volts as at present, it is quite- time that steps' were taken to' satisfy the public that the decision, based as it was upon the reports of the Wellington City Electrical Engineer, the Christchurch City Electrical, Engineer, and two consulting engineers, iB not going to be to the disadvantage of the consumers. The change-over from single-phase to three-phase distribution is inevitable and a matter entirely apart from the consumption voltage. The- vital points about the pressure question are safety and economy (economy, of course, embraces efficiency), and it-may be accepted that the City Council was satisfied for its part on 'these points by the reports of the engincar.s, The municipality's * viewpoint is not, however, that of the consumer, and he is entitled to ask whether he is • going to lose, by direct expenditure upon current and appliances, what he saves, or more than he , saves, in indirect charges for the^city equipment. He asks, too, whether 230 voits is as gsifg as 300; and a proper reply to this is that if his equipment is

properly installed and maintained, and he does not "go looking for trouble," it is. Certainly we do not hear of the consumers in Christchurch and elsewhere petitioning for a change-over to 100 volts because accidents are frequent. As to economy, he asks whether he will get a service as efficient and economical, from 1 his point of view, as he gets now. The Mayor, replying to one set of inquiries last week, said that the cost of the change-over would not fall on the taxpayers, but on the "department," but went on to explain that it had yet to be decided whether the consumers will be asked to share the cost. It is clear from this statement that the consumers, and not the city as a whole, will pay, directly or indirectly, or in both ways combined, for the whole cost of the changeover. Then the customer is affected, and the City Council not at all, by any change in the cost of renewing appliances that have limited "life," notably lamps and heating elements. He is entitled to know whether that cost is likely to be higher, and, if so, how much it will be increased. The City Council will find its path smoother if it takes its eleotricity customers fully into its confidence /on such matters.