THE CONCESSION GIVEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 115, 16 May 1936, Page 10

THE CONCESSION GIVEN

TO COOKERS ONLY

XOT GENERAL

i When consumers in the Hutt Valley r Power Board area recently received ll through the post a notification from j l> the general manager that a new scale s of charges was to be introduced on c June 1, there was general satisfaction at the prospect of lower accounts, fol*l lowed by a doubt on the part of many consumers—amounting to certainty 0 when calculations were made— whether the new low rates, coupled j with a new low (halved) discount, i- were going to work out so favourably. V A number-of consumers protested g strongly against the new scale, and a t proposal was made that a public meet--1 ing should be held to record a pros test. * * g On Saturday last an announcement s was made by'the chairman of the board (Mr. R. W. Bothamley), replying t to certain of the objections raised and g stating the board's feeling of moral obligation to those consumers who have been encouraged to install electric c cooking. t "The result," stated the chairman, j_ "is the mended scale where a fixed * range is installed: This is as f6l--s lows:—The first 16 Units at 4Jd, the c next. 32 units at lid, the next 464 units ._ at Id, the balance at gd." \ As the first announcement gave the scale as: Aid per unit for the first 16 units per month; ljd per unit for the next 84 units; Id for the next 464 units; and 3d per unit for the balance, the concession announced by the chairman was welcomed by consumers, who, reading the: announcement with not particularly close attention, gained the impression that the Id per unit stage would .be reached by all consumers after a consumption of 48 units, instead of 100 units. The id per unit stage, of course, can apply-in only very, few households, ; for a consumption of over 500 units per month,' for domestic purposes, and ext eluding water heating, will be necesy sary before the id-rate can be reached; * that is, the low Jd per unit rate does 1 not apply until the account has risen to t over £2 per month, exclusive of water heating. * • ; COOKERS ONLY. " A .further postal communication, addressed to electric range consumers by '_ the manager, makes it clear that there . is no such general concession as was , gathered by those who read the chairman's statement through quickly,- but tt that the reduction of the second stage r _ did per unit) from 84 to 32 is to ' apply only in households where fixed . electric ranges are installed. Figures made public at the last meet- " ing of the board showed that at the end of March the total number of consumers was 12,251. The number of a electric ranges installed to that date " was 2068. '"..*■■• ; ' c % - 0 0 : c Q "