POWER SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1934, Page 10

POWER SUPPLY

IMPORTANT PROPOSALS

ANNUAL CONFERENCES

TOWN V. COUNTRY

Tho annual conferences in connection .with power supply will open in Wellington on Monday morning, the engineers and secretaries first discussing their business and sending on their recommendations in remit form to the power board delegates, who will meet on "Wednesday morning.

Tho formal order paper for the main conference is this year comparatively short, but the arguments will probably bo keener and heavier than usual, for the first six remits, dealing with bulk supply rates, proposals for the establish ment of a commissioner system of control and r.r.i;:!'filiation of urban and rural areas, supply plenty of scope for th^e expression of conflicting opinions.

The differing rates charged by thfl Government for bulk supply have been a source of argument for many years. Generally stated., the attitude of the Government is 'that large consumers— the cities and larger power boards— should • obtain their power at lower rates, an attitude which does not satisfy the smaller boards, and which, in part, accounts for the differences in charges by supply authorities for industrial and household power.

There arc four remits on this sub ject. South Canterbury wants to see a standard charge made by the Government for nil electricity supplied to boards and supply authorities, over tho whole Dominion, notwithstanding any special circumstances wherein special contracts were made. Similar remits wore received from Waitaki, ManawatuOroua, and Hawko's Bay.

The Waitemata Power Board does not go as far as this, but proposes that in view of tho healthier financial state of the Government hydro-electric schemes, tho Government should (ex cept in tho case of city boards under special contract) charge a flat rate of £7 10s per k.v.a. At present, states a note attached to this remit, most power boards pay on a standard basis of £10 per k.v.a. for the first 200 k.v.a., and £8 for the balance. Several city authorities and power boards onjoy special contracts approximating £5 as! per k.v.a., and other boards obtain a 5 per cent, rebate on standard rates. The Waitoino Board seeks to have bulk charges reduced to enable rural boards to meet increased competition from steam sterilisers and steam producer plants (presumably in connection with the dairying industry, to which problems the engineers have devoted a great deal of attention, without reach ing a solution acceptable both to themselves and the dairying industry). SYSTEM OF CONTROL. Then follow two more remits whicli can be relied upon to arouse hearty discord:— "That this conference approve of the principle that the Government hydro schemes should bo handed over to 'electricity commissioners to administer."— Waitomo Pqwcr Board.

"That this conference) is of the opinion that the electric supply busi ness in both urban and rural* areas should be controlled by one authority, and that the Government be urged to have this given effect at an early date.'' Manawatu-Oroua Power Board.

Recently the metropolitan supplj authorities have been in communication with each other and, it is understood, their representatives will meet prior to the conference to discuss the tariff and control jiroposais to reach a general understanding should the con ference debate run into town and country channels, which appears to be not at all unlikely.

The remaining remits cover miscellaneous subjects, one of the most im portant of which is a proposal from Hawke's Bay that the Municipal Association should be supported in its effort to arrange a block conversion of local body loans domiciled overseas.