SOUND CONCERN

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1931, Page 10

SOUND CONCERN

TRAMS AND LIGHTING

DEPARTMENTS MERGED

GEEATEE EFFICIENCY

A statement prepared by the General Manager oi! the- Tramways and Electricity Departments of the Wellington City Council sots forth the financial relations between the Tramways Department and the Electricity Department in connection with the transfer of the old tramway power station and D.C. power supply reticulation from the Tramways Department to the Electricity Department. The statement is as follows: — "Prior to the amalgation of. two electricity supply undertakings in this city in April. 1925, the current for tramway traction and D.C. power for industrial purposes was supplied from the tramway power station in AVakcsicld street,' and the current, for lighting, etc., was supplied by the Electric Lighting Dcparuient from its generating station in Mercer street. When the new power station was completed at Evans Bay' the council decided to merge the whole of the tramway and D.C. power supply with the lighting and other electric services of the city and operate the undertaking as an. electricity department. "The tramway power station was erected at a cost of .£163,000. For the purposes of the transfer this was written down to £65,000, to.which was added £15,000 for . now rotary converter plant installed in the _ main sub-station, Jcrvois quay, and paid for out of the tramway renewal fund. The total amount to bo paid by the Electricity Department was determined at £80,000, payable to the Tramway Department in ten annual instalments. .The D.C. electric power supply reticulation system, inaugurated in 190G, was also taken over without any payment _. for assets in, excess of tho loan liability. The capital expenditure on this system when it was traiisfered to the Electricity Department amounted to £45,598, on which there was a loan liability of £30,000. ' Against this liability there were atcumulatcd sinking funds of £8366. The assets taken over were therefore £23,964 in excess of the loan liability. "During the last year the Tramway Department operated the D.C. industrial .power'supply, the not surplus was £11,035, as shown in the tramway balance-sheet ended 31st March, 1925. This profitable power supply business was transferred to the Electricity Department without any allowance for goodwill being granted to the tramway undertaking. : The concentration of the whole of tho electrical supply of the city in one department has resulted in groatly increased plant; efficiency with decreased cost of production. "The tramway load is an exceptionally good one to the Electricity Department, as there is a very _ large power consumption every day in the year, and on week days current is consumed for eighteen hours a day. The current used for tramway purposes is considerably more than that supplied to all the electric power consumers in Wellington combined. "The total revenue from the sale of current to the Tramway Department and to D.C. consumers since the Electricity Department took over this supply now amounts to . £210,000 for tramway current and £183,000 for DC. power supply. This enormous aug-. mentation to the gross revenue of.-the Electricity Department has been a most important factor in the financial success of tho undertaking."