ELECTRIC POWER

Evening Star, Issue 21544, 17 October 1933, Page 10

ELECTRIC POWER

REPORTS SUBMITTED TO BOARD Members of the Otago Electric Power Board met in committee this morning, resuming in open board this afteraoon, when reports and correspondence were dealt with. LOAN CONVERSION. Mr C. R. Smith's report on the result of his interview with Government officials in Wellington in connection with the board's loan conversion stated:— lAs a result of a personal interview and discussion with the Treasury officials regarding the board's application to the Loans Board for approval of its suggested conversion loan of £275,000, and of the method of providing £19,927 19s of premiums required, the board readily agreed to drop the scheme in favour of one on the principle of annual redemptions over a period of thirty-two years. By paving at the rate of 4i per cent. on the combined amount of £294,927 19s (loan £275,000, and premiums £19,927 19s) an annual interest bill of £12,534 8s 9d, plus an annual sinking fund contribution of £3,050 for the full term of thirty-two years, the present loans of the hoard, pins the premiums required, would be liquidated at varying dates without further cost to the board. This scheme provided for the finding of the large sum of £19,927 19s required for premiums on conversion due to present bondholders, at the same time giving the board the full benefit of the 20 per cent, debenture tax interest reduction, plus a further annual saving in interest and sinking fund payments of £358 19s 3d. The principle underlying the scheme was that the total amount of the premiums bo added to the amount of existing securities and the existing sinking funds be consolidated for the benefit of the new conversion loan. In lieu of the full amount of the loans being repaid at the end of the currency fixed, debentures were redeemed each year on an increasing scale, the amount of such redemptions being arrived at after taking into consideration the annual instalment to the sinking fund, plus the accretions to the sinking fund by way of interest, and in later years by* using each year an increasing amount of the corpus of the sinking fund, so that in the last year the whole of the sinking fund would have been utilised and the debt completely liquidated over the period. As sinking fund moneys were utilised each year for the redemption of debentures it was necessary to make good to the, sinking fund the loss of interest which it would otherwise have earned, and this was done by increasing the sinking fund instalments payable by the board in the later years by an amount equivalent to 4 per cent, of the debentures redeemed up to and including the previous redemption date. The additional . payment was calculated at the rate of 4 per cent, on the debentures so redeemed, but this did not increase the annual charges to the board, as it was simply in lieu of interest previously payable on the debentures redeemed, and, in fact, would show an actual sav. ing each year of J per cent, on the debentures so redeemed. The total interest and sinking fund in 1931-22 before the debenture tax was enforced were:—Annual interest. £17,130 14s 7d; annual sinking fund, £3,484 3s lid—a total of £20,614 18s 6d. The annual charge after conversion was £16,843 4s 2d, and the net annual savings for the same benefits were £3,771 14s 4d. WORKS. The Engineer (Mr R. D. Veitch) pre«ented the following report on the works for September:— Lawrence.—Several faulty earths had been rectified, and the usual resagging attended to. High-tension fuses had been rewired, and consumers' inquiries, connections, and disconnections attended to as required. One service was run. Owaka.—A three-phase service had been run, and maintenance in the way of resagging and pole blocking had been performed at Kaka Point, Paretai, and Port Molyneux, whero an extra stay pole was also fitted. Balclutha-Stirling-Kaitangata. Two new services had been run, Poles had been blocked in Balclutha, services tightened ,and a staypole erected. Lowtension maintenance in the' form of rotieing had also been performed in Balclutha and Ilosebank. Pole blocking was being continued at Inchclutha and Kaitangata, and one faulty pole in Kaitangata had been replaced. Crossarms had also received attention. One burnt fuse arm had been replaced, and the cause (a faulty high-tension insulator) renewed. At, Stirling a corner pole had been shifted, and other reblocked. At Benhar the phone and high-tension had been pulled up and retied. A drainage transformer had been connected to the phone circuit at Stirling, and several transformer breathers had been repaired. One defective street lighting bracket at Kaitangata had been replaced. Several street fittings in Balclutha had been sprung to reduce breakages, the suspension reflectors had also been painted. One disused steel switch cubicle had been adapted to house petrol away from buildings, and under lock and key. Airbreak switches had received attention. During the month a demonstration of electric cooking was given. Four interruptions to supply had occurred on various Stirling feedors in calm weather, due apparently to birds. Milton.—At Waihola tree cutting hail in the meantime been completed. Two huts,, to house breakdown gear, had been installed on the main line, one near the Berwick section switch, and one on the top of the hill above Mary's Landing. The one at Mary's Landing had been constructed from disused phone boxes. Pole steps had been fitted from pole 665 to the Berwick section switch. One transformer at Clarendon had been shifted to suit new range loading, and another installed at the Snowdrift Lime Works to improve the voltage. High-tonsion fuses at Moneymore had been replaced, and the low-tension cutouts installed on the Milton north substation to more effectively protect the transformer bank. A 15 k.v.a. transformer in Milburn had been replaced by a 10 k.v.a. The Milburn district suffered from the effects of a lightning storm on September 19, thirteen high-tension fuses being blown, but. luckily no other damage was done. One service had been erected at Tokoiti. Railway guards at Waronui had 'been dismantled and services tightened. First-grade insulators had been removed from a little used line in Milburn, and second grade installed. The object of this change was to obtain first-grade insulators for high-tension fuse mounting. Recording instruments had been fitted to Milton south substation to detect out of balance loading. Earth reconditioning was receiving attention. Power was off portion of a secondary 6.6 kilovolt circuit, due to a lino breaking at a defective joint. The machining of new pole jack parts had been carried out, and fuse end castings had been machined. Meter testing and servicing was continued,

including special metering for the main line at Waipori. Northern Area.—Approximately fifty reinspections had been completed at Dunback. Two services had been erected, and low tension resagged at Tumai, Palmerston, Waikouaiti, Karitane, Shag Point. Street lighting at Waikouaiti had been reconnected to cut out. one switch, while at Palmerston a pole in bad ground had been concreted in. At Karitane a deviation had been made in the main line to reduce angles and strengthen generally. Main line poles had been straightened and reblocked at Seacliff, and 6.6 kilovolt and low tension resagged there and at Waitati and Purakanui. Stay_ polos had also been fitted at Waitati and phone guards dismantled at Omimi. A comprehensive table giving particulars of the board's loading was attached. Permits issued during the month were:—New installations 9, extensions 20, a total of 29. Inspections carried out during the month were:— Northern 3, central 6, Lawrence 5, south 14, Owaka 1. Units supplied by the Dunedin City Corporation were: —Southern area 316,880, a decrease of 33,200 compared with last month ; northern area 189.600. a decrease of 27,200 compared with last month.