WAITOMO POWER BOARD

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4873, 21 July 1936, Page 5

WAITOMO POWER BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Waitomo Power Board was held in the Board’s offices at Te Kuiti on Monday, Mr. V. W. Simms presiding over the full Board, Messrs. E. T. Gorton, W. A. Lee, J. N. Boddie, W. Bluck, W. S. Cato and T. M. O’Connell, also the secretary, Mr. Seeker, and the engineer, Mr. Davidson. A letter received in reply to a query sent to the Public Works Department stated that, in the event of the Waitomo and Wairere Power Boards being amalgamated, loans which had been sanctioned for the one area could not be spent outside that area. The possibility of this difficulty being overcome by validating legislation in the Washing-up Bill was mentioned at the meeting. The Te Kuiti Borough Council notified the Board that it had decided to install gaseous discharge lamps for Rora Street lighting in place of the ordinary type at present in use. The Otorohanga Town Board wrote stating it did not propose to make any alterations to its present lighting arrangements. Messrs. Simms, Gorton and Cato were constituted a committee to consider several matters broached by the secretary. Where water-heaters had not been installed, the latter pointed out, some people with electric cookers were reverting to coal ranges during the winter, though the electric ranges’ occasional use was liable to put up the peak load. He suggested that a minimum rate of, say, 5s and perhaps a similar minimum for small cookers, be charged. The engineer stated that charges for faults should be revised in view of the new awards and overtime conditions.

The engineer reported that the peak load on which the bulk supply charge is computed for the quarter ended June 30 was 1033 k.v.a, which was a record. Last year the peak load for the same quarter was 899 k.v.a. The percentage increase in k.v.a., however, was only 14.9, whereas the units consumed had increased by 23.5.