THE POWER BOARD

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 12

THE POWER BOARD

ITS PART IN THE SCHEME

WHAT MANAWATU IS DOING

POPULARISING ELECTRICITY.

The function of the power board in the hydro-electrical scheme is not very well understood by the general public. The Railway Department, for example, does not delegate any of its functions to local bodies, but offers a service to the people with the option of taking it or leaving it. The same holds true with the postal and telegraph service. The Postal Department deals directly with the public. ' But the- hydro-elec-tric system of the New Zealand Government, which in another twenty years may rival in importance the two other major State services of the Dominion, conducts its relations with tlie public through the medium of some 36 electrical power boards. Now, what is the 'function of these power boards? Commercially they correspond to the retailer in business, with the State as the wholesaler and the public as the consumer. The boards buy the current from the State in bulk and sell it ■in small quantities to the consumers in their districts. The State could no doubt sell to the consumer direct—once they had got him. To get him—that is the difficulty. Electricity is a new thing in most parts of rural New' Zealand, where the bulk of the power will have to be sold, and the public in those districts where it is new have to be educated to take it. In this

work of education a local authority is likely to succeed far better than a centralised State Department. The- State has quite enough to do in the generation of electricity without having to undertake, in addition, the selling of it. There is, indeed, so'much to do in constructing and equipping hydro-electric stations with their many delicate and difficult problems that it is work enough for a completely independent department away from the Public Works Department. • ■ . A NECESSARY LINK. -To provide, therefore, a link between the State and the individual citizen as a ,consumer' of electricity, Parliament created a system of electrical power boards covering the Dominion. The State supplies the current in bulk along ■main transmission lines to the various power board districts,- and the power boards distribute it among the residents of the districts which they respectively control, arranging for the local reticulating lines and the local installations.- The power board contracts to take so much electrical energy and, by the ordinary commercial process, h'as-to sell it again to its consumers. The general principles on which power boards have to work are well illustrated ' in an interesting booklet.issued by the Manawatu-Oroua Power Board from its headquarters at Palmerston North. The case for the power board is there very clearly put. After a hydro-electric station is built, such as, for instance, Mangahao, it has current to sell. To get power at the cheapest possible rates, the current must be sold and the,station loaded up to its full capacity. The cost of operating a water-power scheme depends mainly on two .things :— ■. (1) INTEREST ON THE TOTAL " COST. (2) SALARY AND WAGES OF STAFF. ,- It is thus obvious that it -will cost as much to supply a load of only 1000 horse-power as it would the full output of 24,000 h.p. all the year round. Interest and sinking fund represent about 90 per cent, of the annual, costs of keeping the plant going. For every pound ot money spent on a hydro-electric power station it needs approximately another pound to be spent in distribution lines in order to be able to sell the current. This is the work cf the various power boards. Here again interest ana wages have to be paid for at practically the same rate as at tho hydro station. A hydro-electric scheme needs the co-operation of citizens to buy its current and load it to full capacity. TYPICAL EXAMPLE! _ Such being the principles of the operation of the New Zealand Government hydro-electric system, and such the general functions of the power boards —a unique creation in the hydro-electric world—it is interesting to see how a particular powor board works in practice. A good and typical oxample is the Manawatu-Oroua Power Board, which controls a large and populous area, both from the urban and the rural aspect, with its headquarters at Palmerston North. The area is approximately 1301' square miles, and the population about 39,000. The Power Board's district comprises the counties \ of Kairanga, Manawatn, Oroua, Pohangina, and Knvitea, and the boroughs of Palmerston North and Feilding. Jts | boundaries are roughly the Manawatu j River in the south, with an area on ' the other side of the river nearly as far [ as Tokomavu, the Tarania and 'Paiahine I ranges in the east, the Kawatau Biver . in the north, nnd the liangitikei to the ' [ west. The town of Fox ton is in the Horowheniiii Board's district. U will Ik; recognised that the Mann- ' watil Board's district is one of the- very dullest, riit'iil iii'oiiß in tho whole Dj. aiiniou, with thriving ceiiteeg like Pal. :

merston North and 1 Feilding. On the whole, few areas are better suited for trying out the experiment of applying electricity to farming pursuits, for "this district generally is- fairly closely settled with compact areas of first-class land, mostly devoted to dairying. The rateable valne of property, improved and unimproved, is over £30,000,000. There are twelve members to the board, three from the Borough of Palmerston North, one from the Borough of Feilding, two from Oroua County, one. from Pohangina, one from Kiwitea, two from Kairanga, and two from Manawatu.

A poll on the question, of raising a loan for reticulation and other purposes of distribution and sale of current was taken on 21st August, .1922, and carried by 1144 votes to 96. The sum. of £iOO,- I 000 was raised, bearing interest at 5i per cent. , The board's address to the ratepayers on this occasion contained the following interesting passages, which well illustrate the functions of the Power Board in the hydro-electric scheme: | APPEAL TO RATEPAYERS. ! "The scheme of reticulation decided on is to construct main overhead lines to various 11,000-volt substations at Ashhurst, Pohangina, Kimbolton, Cheltenham, Waituna, Hakombe, Feilding, Colyton, Palmerston North, Longburn, Newbury, .Rangiotu, Rongotea, Makowhai, and Sandon, etc. From these main distributing points other distributing lines are run to connect up consumers in all directions, when after inspection, the board considers that the return in revenue will warrant the expenditure. "The district needs, a lot of power, and in addition to the hundreds, probably thousands, of motors required on farms, other prospective large consumers are butter, cheese, and dried milk factories, freezing works, and the boroughs of Palmerston North and Feilding. An accurate census taken put by the Public .Works Department in 1917 showed that . there was nearly 2COO horse-power in en-

gines alone installed in the Manawatu County. ■-.■.' "Tlie advantages of electric power are now fairly well understood by the average citizen. They are: cheanpess; cleanliness; efficiency; low first cost of installation, and absence of worry for power users from industrial disturbances such as strikes, shipping troubles, or coal and benzine shortage. "The members of the Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board are your representatives. They have decided after careful consideration to proceed with the engineer's scheme, and it now only requires a success poll of ratepayers to enable them to proceed with the actual construction. The board are out to run it on business-like lines, and, in -conclusion, asked you to use your vote as a progressive citizen and vote to 'put electricity on the farm'—J. A. Nash, M.P. (chairman), S. R, Lancaster, J. Small, G. J. Harford, J. H. Vincent, L. 1, M'Lean, M. A: Eliott J. Linklater, n. Hunt, J. Morrison, F. Arbon, Sir James Wilson. GIFTED ENGINEER, The board was very fortunate at the outset in securing as its chief engineer, Mi". W. A. Waters, A.M.1.E.E., an able, efficient, experienced, and) enterprising- electrical .engineer, with the additional advantage of being gifted on the commercial side with a real genius for publicity, on which the initial success of a hydro-electric undertaking so largely depends, for electricity must be popularised before it can be widely used. In this, quite apart from his duties, as engineer in expediting the work of reticulation, the construction of transmission lines and sub-stations, Mr. Waters has succeeded admirably. His booklet, Power for the Farm, Home, and Industries," is a model of an ippes.l to prospective consumers, of electricity. The result of persistent work along these lines is said that the people in the Power Board's area are enthusiastic for electricity and ivill probably take up the lull allotted power from Mangahao when the times comes. _ How the board has gone about getting customers is indicated in the fol-" lowing extracts from a circular letter to residents in the district :— _ "In most electric schemes it takes a few years before there -is a sufficient number of consumers t<> return revenue to pay operating, expenses and interest. What we want to do with the Mana-watu-Oroua Electric Power Board Scheme is to get all available consumers connected up to the lines from their inception, so as to make the scheme payable at once, instead of waiting for a lew years for this happy result to eventuate. By joining up with the scheme at once, you have then done what you can to assist the board in its operations . in almost every electrical undertaking in New Zealand nearly 100 per cent, wi£° S ty, c°nsumers ultimately join up with the scheme. The delay many cases m doing so is caused by the consumer not havincr the available cash to invest in wiring his premises in readiness for the supply. The board fully realise tns, and have in the loan arranged for the granting of financial assistance Our financial assistance scheme embodies some new ieaturea. that have never before been attempted in New Zealand. We wish to get all premises wired by tho time the supply is available which means that in some cases consumers' installations will be ready months ahead Qf supply. "You do not hare to pay a penny for [ your, electrical equipment until current ,is switched on. We think that you will atrree that this is a most liberal concession to help you to become a corsumer. After your installation is lit up or your motor is runninit, you can either pleeise yourself whether you pay for installation straight out. "i.r my 25 per cent, deposit, ami pay bjiliiiice uiidwr financial assistance system spieud over v period- of three \cars. Tiie (jij-eulai- further jj'ivos. piivHcvilnr* I a* to tJie Met of installations uadot I

the "block system' 1; cheap motors' for farm machinery, purchased by the board • at lowest wholesale rates and supplied to the consumer at cost; charges for electric light and power, with specific' instances in regard to motors for milk- , ing purposes, water heating, electric ranges and similar details. It is obvious that the Power Board has realised to the full the necessity for educating I the people in the district to the use of electricity. SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS. So tar the board has made substantial progress in-the reticulation of its district. Transmission lines may be seen m every direction running across country. Mr." Waters anticipates that 9CO miles of distribution lines will be required in five years. The Public Works Department gives a supply from Mangahao to the great distributing station for I. the North Island ■at Bunnythorpe. Here rail the New Zealand Government long distance 110.000 volt, lines will meet and I the sub-station could really be called the Master Switching, Station of the North Island. There will be lines to Mangahao Hydro Station, 24,000 h.p. • other lines to Wpodville (branching off to Wairarapa and Wellington), while the main lines goes on to Napier, Waikaremoana Hydro Station, 46,000 h.p., Gisborue, Whakatane, etc., to Arapuiii Hydro Station, 96,000 h.p. Another line will leave Bunnythorpe up the Main Trunk via Taihape, Ohakune, Taumarunui, etc., whUe other lines will radiate to Wanganui and Taranaki, to join up near Te Kuiti with the big hydro stations at Arapum and Horahora*(9ooo h.p.). In the case of a breakdown of one station current can be sent from the others, such as Waikaremoana to Wellington Mangahao to Waikato or Taranaki Arapum to Wellington, etc. The Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board was originally allotted 3300 h.p., from Mangahao's 24,000 on the basis of one horse-power to each ten head of the population, but it is not likely that the

full amount of. power can be utilised at once. Probably, it will take a few years to work up to the allotted figure. In the meantime the Power Board has' guaranteed to take 1500 k.v.a. The demand for power is exceptionally keen and approximately 90 per cent, of potential consumers in the board's area are signing up to take supply as soon as it is avail- *• Contracts have been let for over 100 motors for milking plans in a small area, and the total number of milking motors required, as the scheme grows, will probably run into many hundreds; Moreover, there are in the district 40 creameriefe and dairy factories, and three freezing works, as well as numerous i other industries, which are likely to be increased in number by the establish- | merit of workshops and manufactories seeking cheap power. Owing to the delay in. the completion! Of the generating station at Mangahao, the Power Board, which is -well advanced in its reticulation and installations, will take a temporary supply from local plants at Pajmerston North and Feilding to build np the load ready for the arrival of hydro-electricity. It is confidently expected that a total number of 2500 consumers will be ready to take a supply from Bunnythorpe. The 7eilding Borough Council already has 1100 consumers receiving current from the borough power station, and these consumers will, when Mangahao begins to work, be supplied with current through the power Board. i POWERS ALLOTTED. The state of progress in the whole of the area supplied by the Mangahao system has been described recently in "The Post." The following are the distributing authorities and the power allotted to them:— li.p. Wellington City 12 000 Hutt Valley Electric "Power ' Board 2 000 Horowhenua Electric Power ' , r Boai- d 1,200 Manawatu 3 300 Rangitikei .: 18QQ Wairarapa 2 000 Tararua ...; : IQQQ Dannevirke 1 300 Total , 24,000 Of these power boards, Wairarapa Manawatu, Horowhenua, and Tararua have made the most progress with tho construction of reticulating lines. Several power boards are arranging for supplies of power until Mangahao will be ready, and that will not be for many months yet. The Wairarapa Board is developing 350 k.iv. from the Kourarau River, which is expected to be in operation in 1924. It has already been stated what the Manawatu Board is doing. The Tararua Board is taking over suction-gas plants at Eketahuna and Pahiatua, while the Hutt Valley Board will probably get a temporary supply from Wellington's new power-house at Evans Bay. It has been aaid that the power board system is still in the nature of an experiment. How it will succeed time will only show. Lil.s everything e!so in the business world it \n)l hrsely depend on "the personal Hcloy. .Whore » power board has nr ; efficient engineer, backed by a loyni board'and staff, tha system will succeed, and succeed as no other system could probably do under the peculiar circumstances of the development of hydro-electricity i:i New Zealand. On the other !ia:;d. there, is g-/cst rooir. tor blundering and extravagance in j a clcctiiUulissd a:;d localised system. U is therefore incumbent on all pitizans interested to si-e that they gen ay. efilcUnt