GREY POWER BOARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 April 1938, Page 10

GREY POWER BOARD

CHA in MAX’S AX X UAL REPORT .. SURPLUS FOR YEAR £Bsf".'. Id view of the fuel that last evening's meeting of the Urey Power Board was the last before the municipal elections. Ibe chairman (Mr J. Mulearel reviewed i lie working of the Board for llie past year, and revealed a surplus of £B5OO Members present, in addition to Mr. Mulcare. were Messrs A. Robinson. J. Sineaton. J. B. Kent, A. 11. McKane. W. H. Parfitt. J. Unwin, and M'. Clayton. The Chairman's report was read as follows: —

In recalling events of our past financial year you will. J believe, agree with me ’hat it has been even more strenuous than some difficult periods in the past. Al its commencement, we were faced with the serious break up of the apron at the dam. Then our

worst fears were realised in a power shortage, before the Government could extend its lines over the Alps as contemplated. Urgent steps were taken to obtain emergency supply of power, and this was achieved at a cost in excess of our normal rate. However, apart from voltage fluctuations, industry generally was not greatly hampered by the position. Anxiety was also felt over ’he apron of the. dam, and after seme progress was made with the coffer dam it was arranged to hand the reconstruct ion over io the Public

Works Department. who. ;is the new owner, desired to construct tin improved type of apron. A matter that j lias dominated most meetings of the Board lias been the consequential ad-, Ijustments of finance on the sale of, | beadworks etc. to the Government. ! Being controlled by the Local Bodies Loans Act, we hail to effect tiny adj .iusr.ment through the sinking funds j except where, ’.villi special legislation.' ue could redeem debentures with the! owners’ consent. It was reported previously that very successful negotia-l lions were so completed that will show a saving of £9BO per annum for many ! years'. We "may not be too happy with some of the features of the sale, but at least we are assured of having power available for industry when it is J demanded. Despite curtailment of power extension of lines have been mado throughout the year, and £10,745 19/8 was spent on reticulation and £8,275 17/11 on the gates of the dam. which asset is being taken over by the Government. We are pleased to report that, the surplus for the year is £8,508 9/2, which is indeed a very creditable bal- ; anee after paying for the extra emergency. power. It will be noted that we have not this year written off any old assets, as was necessary in the previous two years. The sales of electricity for the year amounted Io i £51,464, as against £46.427 last year, • the most noticeable increases being for domestic purposes £2.318 or 14.6 1 per cent., and power £2,270 or 11 per cent. It is interesting to observe that in 1935 sales for domestic purposes accounted for £11.558 whilst in 1938 1 they rose to £.18,000. Power sales in, 1 1935 were £13,213. whilst in 1938 they: ! rose to £22.500. In the three past < years we have seen the rebirth of the * gold-mining industry, which in 1935- 1 returned us £1985. which rose in 1938 t to £9.983. The maximum demand in- t creased over the past year from 2760 K.V.A. at the commencement to 3249 K.V.A. at the end, and 'the number of i :

consumers rose from 3353 to -1226. In the midst, of these important negotiations with the Government, matters were further complicated by the change in our secretaries, but. 1 am happy to say the difficulty oi changing horses in mid-stream ’ was accomplished. In conclusion. our troubles could have been made more difficult if yon had not lent your loyal support to one another and to me, and i thank you for it. Our thanks are due to our staff, more especially in these troublesome limes, and 1 am proud of the little delay in rectifying ihe fault occasioned recently by the Omoto road slip. The Press have given us fail' and substantial publicity, and have shown to our numerous consumers that our ever-widening activities are truly appreciated by users of electricity. Pointing out that it was the final ! meeting of the Board, as at present I constituted, Mr. Mulcare hoped that those members who were seeking reI election would be successful. The report was adopted.

Fl NANCE COMMITTEE. A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Tuesday evening: present: Messrs Mulcare (chairman), Sineaton. Unwin, Kent, McKane, Parlilt. Clayton, and Robinson. An apology for absence was received from Mr. F. L. Turley. The committee dealt with the following business: — Mr. Parfitt moved, seconded by Mr. Unwin that accounts amounting to £15.435 18/1 be passed for payment.— Carried. The secretary, Power Boards’ Association. wrote enclosing reply from the Minister of Finance, regarding

I negotiations lor 3£ per cent, loan ' money. ! The secretary. Power Boards’ Association, forwarded a questionnaire regarding superannuation schemes. —The I secretary to reply as to the decision of the staff. The Knginecr-in-Chief and Underi Secretary. Public Works Department, i wrote making arrangements for the i payment of interest on the balance of Jt lie hydro payment, and advising that lie is obtaining details of the new and I repair work on the dam for allocation between the Department and the Board. A telegram was received from Under Secretary. Public Works Department, advising that the contract is still under consideration, and they are at pre-, sent unable to allocate costs of the apron of the dam. The Controller aud Auditor-General wrote, enclosing audited balance sheet with one exception, that £347 8/5 received 'in respect of sale'of timber j rights has been credited to the £lO,OOO I loan 1935 account, contrary to the re-1 quirements of Section 20, Finance Act, 1934. I Mr. Kent moved, seconded by Mr. Parfitt: “That the Grey Electric Power Board apply to the Local Government Loans Board for permission to expend refund of moneys received, from the sale of the old store £500.. and from the sale of timber-milling rights £347 8/5, to further loan ex-, penditure for the .general reticulation) of the Power Board’s system.—Car- 1 ried. A telegram was received from the! Under-Secretary, Public Works Depart-’ ment. advising that Order-in-Council! has been gazetted altering the repre-lj sentation of the Board, to include parti) of the Inangahua County. The County; Clerk. Inangahua Council Council.i wrote .protesting against .the short no-; tice given in making alterations to the representation of the Board. The secretary, Westland Centennial Organisation, wrote enclosing prelim- i nary report for the West/Coast CourtJd

The allocation to the Grey Power Board is £335. payable in three instub ments, of which £lll 13/4 is now due. —Mr. Parfitt moved, seconded by Mr; Kent, that the instalment of £lll 13'4 be passed for payment. —Carried. The secretary, Blackwater Mines, Ltd., wrote applying for the Board’s permission to construct and use an electrical generating plant of 300 kilowatt driven by water-power at Mai-uta.—-Mr. Kent moved, seconded by Mr McKane, that approval be granted to the Blackwater Mines Ltd., to construct and use an electrical generating plant of 300 kilowatt driven by water power at Waiuta. —Carried. Housing Scheme. —Mr. McKane moved, seconded by Mr. Clayton, that the letter be. held over for final consideration by the new Board when summarising applications. —Carried. Charge to Co-operative Mines: Mr. Clayton moved, seconded by Mr. Parfitt. that the whole position of charge to co-operative mines be reviewed in view of the new method of purchase of power, by the incoming Board. —Carried.

Appointment of Inspector.— 1 lie Chairman advised that Mr. McGilclirist had been appointed Inspector, consequently there will be a vacancy for meter-reader. Mr. Sineaton moved, seconded by Mr. Kent, that the action of the Engineer in appointing Mr. MeGilchrist be endorsed. —Carried. Vacancy for meter-reader.—The Chairman advised that he had authorised the calling of applications from members of the staff, ami such had been received from Messrs N. MeKnight. E. Langridge, E. G. Parfitt and V. D. Stevens. After discussion Mr. Smeaton moved, seconded by Air. Kent, that public applications be called for the position of meter-reader. —Carried. Air. McKane moved, seconded by Mr. Unwin, that, the he £314 per annum. —Carried. Junior Female Clerk. —The secretary

! reported that it was necessary to employ an additional member to the staff. ■ Mr. Kent moved, seconded by Mr. Smeaton. that applications be called for the position and that the salary be -£75 per annum. —Carried. ; Secretary’s report on the draft, an - nual account for the year ended March 31, 1935. Mr. Parfitt moved, seconded by Mr. Smeaton, that the report be received and adopted.—Carried. ) . Engineer’s report on the capital exipenditure tor the proposed BarrytownPuuakaiki extension. The chairman •reported on the meeting with the set-, ‘tiers at Barrytown of a deputation from the Board, namely, the Engineer, secretary and himself. After discus-, sion Mr. McKane moved, seconded by Mr. Parfitt, that the question be held over to the next meeting of the new I Board, and that it be a recommendation that the extension be further I investigated. —Carried. Further Capital Loan Moneys.—The [secretary reported that only £4,055 was available for present committ-J ments and fptufe extensions. Mr. Me-' Kane moved, seconded by Mr. Unwin, that the Board approve of the neccs-' sary steps being taken to raise a loan' of £40,000 for 25 years at 3i per ccnt.j for further reticulation and general; works under Section 15 of the Finance! Act (No. 2) 1936. Mr. Clayton moved,! seconded by Mr. Smeaton, that thei amount be amended to £20,000. The) voting was 4 for 4 against, anil thc ; | 'amendment was carried on the castingj [vote of the Chairman. It became thei imotion and was carried. ■ The report of the Finance Com-; mittee was adopted. ©RAFT ANNUAL ACCOUNTS. Tlie secretary (Mr. J. Den-ford) re- 1 ported as follows: In presenting the < draft annual accounts up to the end 1

of last month. I have to make it clear that more so than usual the Audit Office may have something to say to out proposed treatment of finance in connection with the Government taking over ihe head works. In spite oi all our difficulties there is recorded a surplus of £8,50S 9/2. comprising a profit of £473 S 11 from trading, and £8.035 <) 3 from working account. The renovations to the apron of the dam have not been deducted from this figure. Our own expenditure has been £2.22j> I up to the lime of handing this work over to the Public Works Department for completion, tor which there will be additional expenditure at present unascertainable. 11 seems reasonable to appropriate the costs of such repairs from depreciation account. Such action will reduce our reserve, but at this lime it seems preferable to postpone ihe creating of admittedly very necessary reserves, and to concentrate on the reduction of the accumulated deficits, which at the commencement of this year amounted to £211,54 1 8/8. Although hopeful of the speedy extinction of past deficits and tile resumption of normal payments to reserves, we recognise that in the last year our headworks, working as they did at maximum capacity, conferred an economic gain that will not be available in the future. We shall then have to face up costlier supply of pow.er from the Public Works Department. That is part of the price for security | of unlimited bulk supply. Almost im-j mediately after preparing the esti-; mates at the commencement of last year, we were faced with extraordinary expenses in maintaining supply past the period when we anticipated receipt of Government, power, conse-' fluently we are pleased (hat the surplus has not fallen more than £2.413 below the estimate. ’

j Expenditure.—Owing to the radical I adjustments in buying in bulk instead of generating (.cost of which is shown ■as wages, interest and sinking fund charges) it is not. possible to give a comprehensible comparison of expenses with the figures of last year. | Income.—On Ihe other hand, we find I stiles of current have risen in the past two years, as:—Fur domestic purposes, from £15,882 to £18.200; increase £2318,1 ; percentage 14.(1; commercial £8.362 toj £8.786 —£424 —1.1; power £20,230 to | | £22,500 —£2,270 —.11.2; street lighting (£1.539 to £1,551 —£12—.8: discounts Host £414 to £427—£l3—3.1; total :£46,427 to £51,464 —£5,037 —10.9. I Trading Accounts. —Although sales appliances etc. have increased by £498 13/7 to £3,977 13/5, the nett profit has I increased by £56 5/1. Capital Accounts. — In order to facilitate a grasp of the capital account, those headworks and other assets sold to Government have been placed in a separate account, and the balance only brought into the main account. The •most noticeable feature is that only £4,055 4/10 now remains for further capital expenditure. That amount will soon be expended on present commitments, -and small extensions, therefore it behoves us to act with promptitude in having further loan money authorised.

ENGINEER’S REPORT. The Engineer ( Mr. Sinclair Trotter ) [reported as follows for the period j March 16 to April 26: — Power Supply.—During the two i months ending March 31, the demand : on the system amounted to 3249 K.V.A. for the Government purchase. The final figures for the complete returns for the year ending March 31 are not yet available. The revenue from energy sold during the financial year ended March 31, 1938, was £51,464. Of this £18.609 was received from .13 large

1 consumers in the class where the annual revenue is £lOOO a year or more, thus accounting for 36.3 per cent, of the total. During the year before the Government supply was available, the Board was compelled to purchase from outside sources and generate by steam a total of 1,424.063 K.W.H. to meet the requirements of the districts. Owing to the comparatively high price of this energy, the revenue account suffered in consequence; however, the situation with the power supply was fairly well met, the temporary 'measures with some restrictions sufficing to see the Board through until the Diesel generators of the .Public Works Department went on load. Reticulation. —The outside staff have been engaged on several small extensions to link up consumers in various parts of the district. General maintenance has required some attention owing to the approaching Winter. The 11,090 volt line on Moonlight road 1 has been deviated to the new road to I permit the Argo dredge to cross the road and work out that part of the property. Some alterations to lines at Ngahere have been made to suit new alignment of roads and permit better [distributing facilities in connection I with the Public Works supply when (the northern supply point is available. [The line to Donaldson's mill on Deadman's Creek has been put in hand, and work is proceeding on the line to connect the Public Works supply to No. 1 feeder. On Monday Alarchi 21. at approximately 2,35 pan., the large slip which came down al. Omoto| carried away the road, severing the two 11,009 volt underground cables feeding the town of Greymouth, Cobden. and all the southern districts. The power was restored to the town at 4.50 pan. over most of the area, the remainder being supplied at 5.10 pan.. Westland Power taking up this part of our load until 6 pan. the following day on completion of a temporary overhead line in the river bed round the toe of the slip. So far we have not been able to get at the damaged cables, us work is still going on at the site of the slip. Other interruptions due to line troubles during the bad weather experienced were only of a minor nature.

j Consumers. —Since last meeting 25 I new applications for supply have been received, making the total to date 4231. Twenty-two new consumers have been connected and this brings the total number of consumers up to -1245. Extensions and alterations to 86 existing installations have been carried out. Eleven electrical ranges add 17 radios have been connected. The connected load for the period is:—Previous: Light k.w. 1623.065; 11. & I. k.w.. 3436.070; water heating k.w., 328.300; power h.p., 8827.750; cooking k.w., 2781.950. Present: 8,120 —21,360 —9.000 —70,750— 38,750; t0ta15—1631,185 —3457.130— 337.300—8808,500—2820,700. Load at last meeting—l4,79o k.w. load for month 130 k.w. 11,920 k.w. Mr. Kent, said that be thought the staff should receive the Board’s thunks regarding the Omoto road slip. The way they worked in getting the line through, under terrible conditions, was marvellous. Referring to the chairman’s report in connection with revenue, he said that the figures showing revenue from the gold-mining industry , showed various fluctuations. In 1927. , the revenue from gold-mining was , £2152 4 out of a total revenue of 519028, ( or 24.1 per cent. In 1933. however, the gold mining revenue was only ( £lO5. The Chairman] had quoted 1935, t when the gold-mining revenue was; £1985. a

The Chairman said that he had taken the figures for the Board’s term of office. Mr. Kent said that the revenue in

71927 was 21.1 of the total revenue; m 11933 it was only £105; in 1938 it was £9983, or 19.5 per cent, of the total revenue of the Board. These fluctuations showed that the particular load had to be watched, in that it varied so much. In regard to the line to Ikamatua. Mr. Clayton said that the Government line was now being thrown on the other side of the river, and it would be a considerable time before the Government power was available. He would like to know when it was likely to be switched on. The Engineer replied that he dii not think a contract had been let, and he could not see the work being done for a long time. Alcanwhilc, he was making arrangements to hire two regulators, with the object of improving the present supply. Mr. Clayton said he thought they should make representations to the Government to push on with the line. The Engineer said that alterations had been a. source of trouble. If the Department had had a little local knowledge, remarked Air. Clayton. the alterations would not have been necessary. The survey had been in progress on one side of the river for a long time, and now they had crossed to the other side. The Chairman pointed out that the Department, had contracted to supply the big dredge, and would have to fulfil that contract. That would not be necessary for 12 months, said Air. Clayton. The Engineer gave an assurance that the use of the two regulators would greatly improve the present supply, until the Government power was available.

In reply to Air. AlcKanc, the Engineer said that several clients at Cobden and other places would he connected with the supply, when their* applications were received.