POWER CUT OFF

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 143, 19 June 1941, Page 8

POWER CUT OFF

MOST CITY SUBURBS

NECESSITY THROUGH

SHORTAGE

NEED FOR ECONOMY

An abrupt reminder of repeated warnings of necessity to economise in the use of electricity was given in Wellington yesterday afternoon, when power was cut off, with at best only the briefest notice, from 2.30 to 5 o'clock. Inconvenience was caused, and* in some cases great inconvenience and some loss, but the abrupt cutting of power was unavoidable, for there simply was not enough power to go round. The whole of the southern part of the North Island, from a line roughly from New Plymouth to Gisbbrne, was affected, and cuts in one form or another were made in all power board and supply authority districts in this southern area by urgent order of the Electricity Controller, Mr. F. T. M. Kissel. Generally the reduction ordered was one of 10 per cent, of the district loads.

It may or may not be necessary to order further cuts in future, but the

likelihood can be -reduced if all consumers will co-operate with the supply authorities by reduciifg their demands as much as possible. Lights which are not needed should be switched off at once; radiators should not be left on in vacant rooms, and generally economy must be exercised.

There has been a very fair response to the previous appeals made in Wellington, for • the city loads have gone down, but such happenings as that yesterday afternoon showed unpleasantly that the economy must be continued.

The demand yesterday was very , heavy because of- the cold southerly * and dark skies in the southern part " of the island, but further north the position was not" acute. There was, in fact, a margin of about 10,000 kilowatts . of power from the stations up north, ! but the transmission line which links • the Arapuni and Auckland steam sta- ; tion to the rest of the North Island : system (Waikaremoana, Mangahao, the : Evans Bay steam station, and smaller ; stations, all of which were brought sin yesterday) could not bring more power to the areas where it was most needed. EXCEPTIONAL EARLY DEMAND. : In preparation for the inevitable late . afternoon peak excess storage is each . day built up in a holding lake below the main lake at Waikaremoana, and > when the heaviest demand comes on, ■ from 4 p.m. or later, and a third generator is brought in to meet; the load, this extra storage is available, but the dark skies and cold yesterday 1 brought on lights and radiators early : in the day and there was a risk that the water held in the lower, lake would \ be exhausted before the peak arrived. 1 That would have meant that the whole 1 system would have failed during the later afternoon rush and would possibly have resulted in a serious disruption of the intricately linked system of control over the whole of the North Island. The order to all power boards and supply authorities to reduce their demand for bulk supply was therefore inevitable. The Evans Bay station, which has been running continuously for months past now, often to* the limit of its generators^ was,not fully available yesterday, for one generator, of 6000 '. kilowatts, was down for essential over- ' haul. This, too. was inevitable. The ' plant at Evans Bay has run so heavily , that overhaul cannot be deferred if efficiency is to be maintained and ; breakdown guarded against. Even if ! the full generating capacity at Evans ! Bay had been available, cuts would ' still have hadvto be made in the city, for the additional power would have been shared over the wider supply area. . . ALL SUBURBS BUT THREE. All city suburbs except' Hataitai, Northland, and Miramar were cut off; ! power was continued to Hataitai and Northland so that radio services would not be interrupted, and to Miramar so that factories there would not be shut down. Operations were stopped in several lesser factories in other suburbs and in one large factory in Newtown where about 200 are employed. The supply to the' city area was not cut off. Trams, for which power is distributed by a reticulation system apart altogether from lighting and heating, continued running in all suburbs. Power was restored immediately the position had eased sufficiently to give a safe margin. The first suburb was given power at 4.55 and all were back again by 5.15 p.m., by which time practically the whole of the industrial load was off for the day. In the Hutt Valley residential areas were apparently not affected, but appeals were made to the large industrial users to reduce their demand as much as possible. Particulars of what action was taken in the Hutt Valley Power Board's area were not made available to "The Post" today. RADIO WARNINGS. The acute position developed very quickly. The first definite instructions that power board and supply authorities were to reduce their demands upon bulk supply were given from the office of the Lighting Controller soon after 2 o'clock and all authorities had been notified by 2.20. A request was made at once by the electricity department to the broadcasting authorities that warnings should be put over the air and should be repeated during' the afternoon, urging all possible economy. The first local radio announcements were made at about 3 o'clock, but within a few minutes suburban radio sets went dead and those who had not heard the first announcement wondered what it was all about until power was restored at about 5 o'clock.