AIM OF DOMESTIC TARIFF

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

AIM OF DOMESTIC TARIFF

AN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION.

It is contended by tho city officials that tho systom of charging in Wellington is acceptable to the vast majority of consumers, as complaints aro very few indeed. Tho aim of tho domestic tariff" scale was that a reasonablo proportion of curront used should bo charged at lighting rates (od), a reasonable proportion at heating rates (2d), and tho remainder at a further reduced rate. It was obvious that in a ten-roomed house much more powor would bo consumed in lighting than in- v fivo-roomcd house, and similarly with heating (radiators and ironing), and it was reasonable, therefore, that a higher number of units at the 5d rate should be charged up in respect of the larger, houso. The '' domestic tariff" was not so much guesswork, but was drawn up' after a careful averaging out of a very large number Ci : lighting und heating accounts as de'tormined under tho now displaced two-meter system.

It was further pointed ou(j that the making of a flat ehargo for gas, whether used for lighting or for cooking, was ljy no means universal, many gas supply authorities taking two readings, one for lighting and one for gas.used in cooking^and heating, with differentiated charges, lighting always being the higher.

In the cases cited, of the consumption of 100 units of electrical power in houses of from five to ten rooms, it was a fallacy to state that equal "service" was given to each, for it .was plain that much more power would bo consumed in lighting a big family house than a fivo-roomed cottage, and. it was universal practice to; mako a higher charge for lighting power than for heating or cooking power. :