Hydro-Electricity

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 77, 15 March 1923, Page 3

Hydro-Electricity

THE ECONOMIC ASPECT. RELATING TO TOWNS. REPLIES TO CONTENTIONS. Now that a Provisional Committee has been set up to circulate a petition and organise i o r the election oi a permanent rower Board lor the Hunxe s Bay district, a thorough investigation ol economic advantages to be gained by tile turnover iroin the generating systems now in use to the oig nyuro generating system which is at me back oi tne rower Board proposal is necessary and should be welcomed by ah who tune an interest in tne program, anu advancement oi the aistrut. Hie need lor further information on this .essential point was the keynote of Hie Mayor ol Hastings's contentions at the inaugural meeting ol the rruvisiuna. lu-mniittee yesterday anti it can lie accurately stated that the other representatives present were in lull agreewith him. As it has been decided to circulate the petition as. early as possible, the more discussion that can be given to this vital aspect ol the question at the present moment the better it will be lor all concerned. It was with the object of opening » UC r £ that we published on wild March last the questions supplied to us by Ml". .1. H. Scott, tire Hastings Borough electrical engineer, and certain replies thereto. In reverting to these questions to-day we wish to make it clear that we have no motive other than the clearing up of the differences of opinion which have been expressed and removing misunderstandings.

Our correspondent now expands some of the points of his replies to Mr. Scott’s questions. He says:— In Question 1 Mr. Scott says the cost of power at Hastings at the present time is £7 10s per k.w., per annum, and contrasts With the Government charge of £lO per k.w. per annum. The Government charge is £lO per 200 “jW., whereas the actual figures for the Hastings plant last year amounted to £15,897 working co s ts apart from the capital charges, with a maximum load of 432 k.w., or over £36 per k.w. I cannot imagine where Mr. Scott gets n 1? £7 10s fr ° ni - the £15,897. £11,500, or nearly £27 per k.w., is for fuel only. You will note that the Govrates will cost Hastings £4,800 instead of £15,896, a savino - of £11,096 per year; and that it will cost Napier £7,000, as compared with the present cost of £13,293, a saving of £6,293 per annum.

Question No. 2.—Mr. Scott says : Government by getting Hastings and Napier to take the power at a higher price, will be able to deliver current to all the villages on the road.”—The reply to this ig that the Government does not propose to get the two towns to take power at a high price. It is proposed to get their to take it at a much lower price. The question of supply to the villages on the road will be left to the Power Board.

Question 3.—“ What benefit commercially will be derived by supplying isolated townships ? Would it’ warrant penalising Hastings and Napier?”—lt is not proposed to penalise the towns, but, m fact, to offer them the benefit. (4).—“Do any of the Power Boards know the position?”—Presumably the Power Boards know their position as they employ quite a competent stall m every case.

(s)—“By all means go in for hydroelectricity. if it is cheaper, but not otherwise.”—This is not a question. Question 6.— “Prospective consumers must bear m mind that auxiliary plants must be installed.”—lt is not necessary for auxiliary plants to be installed. Many of the largest works, including two large freezing works in Canterbury, have no auxiliary plants, and the other freezing works only .have auxiliary plants because they keep portion of their old steam plants. Question 7.— “ At Lake Coleridge, up to a year ago, 196 stoppages were recorded, varying from eleven minutes to one week. Every lightning storm, on a transmission line will probably cause shut-jfgjnis for from 15 to 30 minutes and perhaps longer if any damage was done, as no arrestor has yet been devised to safeguard the lines absolutely. The predicament of a dairy farmer with 100 to 150 'cows, in the case of a shut-down can be readily imagined.”—At Lake Coleridge there has only been one prolonged stoppage during a, snow storm when the supply was shut down for 60 hours, Tiiere have been about half a dozen other stoppages of from two to four hours eacn. ihe balance of the 196 stoppages which Mr. Scott refers to are only from one to three minutes duration and would not be noticeable m ordinary work. The plant has never been shut down for a lightning storm. Question B.—“ Have the rates at W airoa for electric current been increased?’’—At Wairoa. the charge for light, I understand, is being reduced from lUd to 7d as a result of the adoption of the hydro-electric power. and not increased as Mr. Scott infers. Question 9.—“lt is questionable if the Harbour Board is going to take more power. The freezing works say they will require 1,000 h.p. each. Mr. Scott does not know a freezing works in New Zealand that is getting that.” —The chairman of the Harbour Board is in the best position to tell Mr. Scott what power his Board intends to commit itself to take. Freezing works usually take 400 to 600 h.p. Question 10.—“ The whole position of the hydro-electric scheme is that the towns are to pay more than they can generate current at themselves, so as to allow of small country districts being supplied. Is it worth it? Further in what way is hydro-electricity going to help the country? The reply to tliis question i§ uot to be couched in generalisations, but to be presented in hard facts.”—Hydro-electric schemes do not propose to charge the town any more than they can generate themselves, in fact, they will charge Hastings less than the present cost of generating. Ro hydro-electricity helping the country, I enclose copies of recent papers of mine on electric milking, which I think contain sufficient hard facts to satisfy any farmer. Question 11.—“ Is the Power Board going to take over all the assets of Napier and Hastings, and of the country, and carry on their reticulation and supply ? If not, what will be its functions?” —This question has already been answered. Question 12.—“ What is the electric power going to do for Hawke’s Bay? Not one single industry in Dunedin has been started because of cheap power. Why ig Christchurch trying to | get its own. power scheme. In Dunedin

i*ne following are the averages paid per unit:—Sold: Private lighting average, 3.493 (3jd), power and heating average .831 (8-lUd). Total supply 1.4316 (Ifd). The Government supply of current in bulk is stated at £lO per k.w.” —Would Dunedin care to revert to fuel power station? 1 Will Hawke’s nay be satisfied until it is able to compete with Christchurch and Dunedin on even terms. Christchurch is trying to get its own power scheme because the uJvernnient has not been able to supply enough power to meet their demands.

SCHEME FOR OTAGO.

Dunedin, March 11

A representative meeting at Milton to-day pf the Otago Provisional Electrification Committee adopted the 1 report of the engineer, Mr. A. P. Aldridge, and decided Lo take the necessary steps preparatory to securing the approval or otherwise oil the ratepayers to the proposal. The report was prepared with the object of placing sufficient general in formation at the disposal oi the com mittee to assist it in determining the practicability or otherwise of the piuposal, and if satisfied that the formation of a Power, Board is advisable to define the boundaries of the district which can be reticuluated and supplied with energy on profitable lines. 'lhe estimate of the cost included all capital charges from the point of supply to the consumers’ premises, including service connections, which had been allowed for up to lengths of one chain in the case of consumers within the district and up to two chains in outlaying districts. The estimates were based on the best of materials, cocpper wire being taken at 2/- per lb for stranded cable and labour costs being based upon the usual rates and performances. A contingency fund of 20 per cent, had been allowed.

The estimate of the cost of the reticulating of the district to the extent outlined and including the sum of 632,000 as the estimated cost of the reticulation south of z the Chain hills, jwned by the City Corporation and sold to the Board, if formed, was £136,175. Of this £35,424 was required for the northern area and £101,245 for the southern area. Allowing a sum for preliminary expenses,, the estimate was: Northern area £40,000, southern area £110,;000; total £150,000. The actual cost (per kilo) of the average demand as defined in die agreement between the city and the Government amounted to £6.