UTILISING CHEAP POWER

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 29, 3 August 1927, Page 6

UTILISING CHEAP POWER

ELE.CTRIC. RANGES

: lhe charges made for electricity by the: Wellington City Council are the subject of two letters submitted to "The Post" by correspondents. One,' "Coal Store," asks why the council does not import an Gthcient range at a moderate cost and supply it to the people direct, thereby enabling customers to get the benefit of the cheap power without having, to spend between £30 or £40 in installing an electric range. The correspondent holds that dealers try to sell ranges Uy impressing upon the would-be buyer "the. low cost of power if you have a range," and she asks, 'Is the position fair?" Power would need to be cheap when the cost, of appliances is taken into consideration, submits "Coal Store," who concludes by maintaining that it is nnfair that, after public funds have made cheap power possible, private enterprise should reap the reward. On the same subject, "One Who Hath Not" asks, "Why are the electric ranges so expensive?" The correspondent is-of the opinion^ that ;> there .must be many thousands of "Post" readers of moderate means who would invest in electrical power appliances to-morrow, if their cost was at all within reason, and draws attention to the possibilities of the City Council in. its capacty as local Electric Power Board controlling the importation and distribution of power appliances so that the big middlemen's profits may be eliminated. In other parts of the country this importation and distribution is undertaken by the local electric power boards. "One 'Who Hath Not" suggests that since electric appliances, like other modern utilities, are fast passing from the luxury stage to that of necessities,. anything serving to hinder their evolution must be swept aside, and that it is of paramount importance that the use of electric power be made as popular as possible in order to recoup the public purse for its disbursements to date (and to follow) in making cheap power possible. ■■ - V

The above letters were referred to the Mayor to-day. ■ Mr. Tr'oup • said that, though he had definite views on, the matter, he would prefer not to make any comment at the moment as the council had asked the general manager of the Electricity Department to bring down a report on the same subject, which report would probably be before the council at its next meeting. '