SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 73, 23 February 1938, Page 15

SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY.

REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL. THE FINANCIAL POSITION. Interesting figures showing the revenue of the Palmerston North City Council’s electricity department for the last nine-monthly period were presented to last night’s meeting of the council by the electrical engineer (Mr J. W. Muir). These w-ere as follows, the figures for the corresponding period of the previous year being given in parentheses : 1937. 1936. £ £ Revenue sale of electricity 38,691 36,229 Revenue current sold for water heating ...... 5,573 5,249 Subsidy received from the PAV.D. 1,125 Nil On cost included and costings Total revenue, including on costs 52,551 48,179 Expenditure, generation & purchase of power ...... 22,976 17,353 Expenditure, distribuition costs 2,887 2,374 Expenditure, overhead charges 3,528 3,365 rr«» Credit balance, fitting and ■ trading account 162 25 Balance gross revenue to net revenue account ... 23,160 25,000 Balance net revenue account to app. account 14,427 16,345 “It must be realised in comparing the above figures,” Mr Muir stated, “that the 1936 period was that in which we were using the generating plant, and the figures quoted were later subject to an amendment in accordance with the agreement arrived at with the Power Board and the Public Works Department. Such adjustment- increased the expenditure for the 1936 period under review by approximately £3OOO. This, for instance, therefore, means that the increase shown for the item called expenditure, generation and purchase of power is approximately £262.1 instead of £5623. , “The annual Public Works Statement showing the results of the different supply authorities for the year ending March 31, 1937, has come to hand. The Palmerston North figures, considering the fact that our supply area is much smaller than most of the other cities, are, in comparison, quite satisfactory. “For the units sold per consumer, 'ivith the exception of Auckland, Palmerston North’s return is higher, with 2230. than those of the other cities. “The figures for average revenue per unit sold show that Auckland, Dunedin Christchurch sell electricity at a slightly cheaper rate than Palmerston North, AVellington slighly dearer, and Invercargill more than double, “The working costs per unit sold, ,574 d are comparable with those of Auckland and Christchurch, and lower than Wellington. The Dunedin figure, ,274 d. is due to the fact that that city does not purchase power in bulk, as it owns its own hydro-elec-tric scheme, the item power purchased being included in the working costs. This is reflected again in the capital charges per unit sold, where Dunedin’s cost is .402 d, as compared with .167 d for Wellington and Christchurch. , , , , . “Palmerston North’s total cost per unit sold, of .832 d, is beaten by Dunedin (.676d) and Christchurch (./32d). Wellington (.879d total cost)*? PfJ* cent, higher, Auckland’s .916 d is 11 per cent, higher, and Invercargill s 1.583 dis 90 per cent, higher.’