HYDRO-ELECTRIC COST

Evening Star, Issue 20315, 25 October 1929, Page 6

HYDRO-ELECTRIC COST

THE POSITION AT ARAPUHI The present policy of electric supply development may be considered as hav-

ing been actively commenced when work was first started at Lake Coleridge _in I ment generating stations. That station ' cam© into operation about the end of 1914, so. that the year just completed is the fourteenth year during which Government supply, has been in operation. During the past year progress has been well maintained. The annual expenditure was £943,807, increasing the total capital spent on hydro-electric works from £7,523,928 to £8,467,735. A large portion of this — ; about £2,ooo,ooo—is represented by | works, mainlv at Arapuhi, which had ; not at the end of the year come into . operation, but which will gradually come in during the present year. “ There was an expenditure of £431,981 in connection with the Arapum scheme during the year,_ of which j £163,148 is in connection with the head works and power station, £86,669 in connection with substations in various ; places, and £143,469 represents interest i and miscellaneous capital charges on portions of the scheme not in operation. Of the total of £431,981, £160,676 has been transferred to the Hornhora operating account. Work on the power station, the erection of which was taken over from the contractors at the end of 1927, has been pushed on, and power was made available from the first 15,000 kw. unit on June 4, about seventeen months after the work was taken over. A second unit_ has just recently been completed, and it is hoped to have the third unit in operation before the end of the year. “Certain grave allegations as to the safety of the dam were made and given much publicity just prior to my taking over the portfolio or Public Works. 1. had most careful_ inquiries made into all the points raised, and found that • there was no cause for apprehension i whatever. The programme provided in | the original contract called for com- j plction of the power station at prac-. tically the same time as the dam. j Owing to the delay in completion of the , power house, which has been-mentioned . in this and former statements, the full ( flow of the river has been running over j the spillway-weir and the channel be- 1 tween that structure and the original j river course for a period of oyer eighteen months. Considerable erosion has taken place in the old channel some i fifteen to twenty chains below the overflow-weir, and has been causing some concern. This tendency to erode . will, of course, be considerably reduced 1 as more and more water is taken. through the power house for power gen- | erating purposes. Meanwhile, and as ( an emergency measure to reduce the s flow passing over the waterfall where | the damage has been occurring, the department has arranged to put in two of the future penstock tunnels in advance of normal requirements, and to use them to bypass sufiicient water to er able protective works to be put in on the overflow channel. Contracts have been let for the necessary pipes and nozzles and the excavation of the tunnels is in hand. Three shifts are being worked in order to have the work completed at the earliest possible date. LOCAL SUPPLY AUTHORITIES “ The department is to a considerable extent a partner with many oi the local supply authorities in making power available, to the actual consumers. Many of the supply authorities actually distribute the power generated by the department, and all ot them operate under license and regulations administered by the depart- , ment. The Government itself now has an investment of £8,467,730 in its I hydro-electric developments, and local authorities obtaining their power ! wholly or in part from the Government ' have an investment of £lx.o34,dia, ' whilst the others, who arc independent of Government supply, have an investment of £6,088,424. On the whole, the supply authorities buying their power in bulk from the department are m a better general financial position than are those operating on their own account. Of the twenty-seven power boards purchasing power from the Government, only three had to resort to rates to augment their incomes and raised a total of £8,506 by that means. Of the eleven boards not using Government supply, fi ve collected rates to a total value of £68,713 during the year. Representations have been made to me at various times that the department should reduce the price charged tor current, particularly to the smaller power board operating in country areas. An examination of the accounts of the various boards and also or the accounts of the department indicates that as a general rule the local authorities’ accounts are in a better financial position than is the Government electric supply account. There is no question also, but that the rate at present charged-the country power boards gives a considerable smaller return per kilowatt to the department than does the somewhat lower rate charged the larger cities and power boards for much larger amounts of power.