ELECTRICITY PRICES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 23, 27 July 1927, Page 10

ELECTRICITY PRICES

I THE CITY'S SYSTEM

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Last Tuesday quite a considerable amount of valuable space in your esteemed paper was devoted to a comparison of the charges for electric current supplied by. Wellington City Council ana Hutt Power Board, all apparently with the object of showing how generously our city fathers are treating users of municipal "juice"; but not a word has been said by you or-any-one else against the council's iniquitous system of charging according to the number of rooms in a person's house. I fail to see any justification for this system of charging. We might, with equal justice, be charged according to the ages of our grandmothers. The Gas Company, which has a monopoly of the supply of gas, charges everybody at the same rate, irrespective of the number of rooms in their houses; and the,baker, the grocer, the butcher, the milkman, etc-—in fact all trades people, have the one charge; they are not concerned whether their customers live in a hovel or a mansion. . Then, I ask, why does the City Council persist in stinging a Dig percentage of the users of current? It cannot bo that it costs more to read the meter.in a ten-roomed house than it does in a five-roomed cottage, and should it cost more to install a meterboard in the former house than in the latter, this could be met by a charge for the service upon installation. To show how unfairly the present system of charging operates, I have worked out- a comparison of the cost of 100 units for houses of five to ten rooma, assuming that in each case an electric range has been installed. Here are the figures for June to August::—

5 rooms—lo units, at sd, 30 units at 2d, 60 units at Id, 14s 2d. 6 rooms—l 2 units at sd, 36 units 2d 52 units Id, 15s 4d.

7 rooms—ls units at sd, 45 units 2d 40 units Id, 17s Id. 8 rooms—lß units at sd, 54 units 2d. 28 units Id, 18s 10d. 9 Rooms—2o units at sd, 60 units 2d, 20 units Id, 20s. ■ . . 10 rooms—22 units at sd, 66 units 2d, 12 units Id, 21s 2d.

You will notice that all these houses use the same amount of current, but there is a different charge in each case. . .

Now, Sir, why should the occupant of a six-roomed house be asked to pay more for the same service than one who occupies a five roomed house? And you will notice that the injustice becomes more marked as tho number of rooms increase, the occupipr of a -tenroomed house being called upon to pay 50 per cent, more than his neighbour who may be living in a five-roomed cottage. Do you consider this at all fair or equitable 1 I think, to put it mildly, it can only be characterised as a gross imposition. .

For some timo Victoria had a similar system of charging for electric current to : that obtaining here, but, from a Melbourne journal recently to hand, I loam that the State Electric Commissioners have at last recognised the injustice of this method) and have now docided to charge all users the same rate, regardless of the number of rooms in their houses. Don't you think it is up to our City Council to adopt the same plan? ■

No doubt the council will contend that to put all users on the same footing would result in a- loss of revenue to the Electric Light Department, but there would be no loss if an average were struck over all users and a corresponding charge made; and also, without doing anyone an injustice, the charge would be increased to those consumers who now obtain a certain amount of current at less than the cost of production.

Prom en article in Friday's "Post" I notice that the Hutt Power Board as a result of what appeared in Tuesday's issun are sitting up and taking notice. I sincerely trust that my protest will be the means of making our city fathers do likowise, and, if it results in tho council righting a great wrong and bringing about that long looked-for "square deal" to which we are justily entitled,, my effort will not haye been in vain.—l am, etc.,

A SQUARE DEAL.

25th July.