HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18374, 14 April 1923, Page 11

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

WORK IN THAMES VALLEY.

THE BOARD'S OPERATIONS.

INCREASE' IN REVENUE. [BE TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TE AROHA. Friday. Interesting reviews of the, work of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board were given this week at the last full meeting of the present board. The chairman, Mr. F. H. Claxton, said the wisdom of the board deciding in the initial stages to undertake the work of installation and financing its consumers was evident in the number who had availed themselves of the provision, and the amount of current being sold. A total of £59,589 had been advanced under this heading, of which £38,141 had been repaid, leaving £21,448 outstanding to ( date. • ■ The .board had to-day approximately' 2976 consumers, including 384 milking motors and 234 industrial motors, besides supplying ten butter, cheese and dried milk factories. Thames, Paeroa, Te Aroha, • Morrinsville, Matamata, Tirau, Putaruru, Turua and Ngatea were all being supplied through its mains, making a total connected load of 7450 horse-power. The capital expenditure in 1921 was £34,940- in 1922, £208,194; and in 1923, £125,393., , Installations and showroom sales amounted in 1921 to £2123; in 1922 to £20,640; and in 1923 to £36,924. The revenue from sales of current in 1923 were: Public lighting, £2720; general lighting, heating and cooking, £9715; power for motors, £8062; making a total of £20,497,-against £6259 in 1922. The Need for Extensions. The rapid development of the district generally was bringing under notice the early need for extension not originally anticipated., , In some cases, the present load had so ■ far exceeded the original estimates > that heavier lines' had been erected than were first thought necessary. This would lead the new board to a consideration of the completion of its original scheme, estimated to cost £514,000. Under the loan proposals £550,000 was sanctioned by the ratepayers. Of the amount about £78,000 had been absorbed in preliminary expenses, loan floating expenses, interest and sinking fund - payments, leaving £472,000 to work on. So far sections of the work had been completed at their estimated cost, the earlier ones slightly exceeding, and. the later ones slightly under, so there was every reason to believe that the work as contemplated would require a further £40,000 to £50,000 to complete. The final instalment of £100,000 of the authorised . loan recently arranged for would, with the balances now in hand, assure the finance till June, 1924, before which it would be necessary to consider the point just mentioned and make the necessary provision. One of the further duties.of the incoming , board would be a general review Of the whole area and the' consideration of its growing needs. Numerous requests for power had been and were being considered on roads whose total load did not warrant the capital outlay for lines. The delay in a number of cases could only be a short one, as the increase 'in settlement and prduction would soon, rate these as payable . propositions. , l A ; Critical Stage Reached. :. The coming year would be of vital importance to the board and' its ratepayers as its ' measure of success would determine the necessity for striking a rate or otherwise. Given a reasonable continuance of the present favourable conditions of production, and the linking up of consumers immediately . the , various lines were made alive, Mr. Glaxton believed the board would achieve the proud position of carrying its scheme to finality without striking a rate. This form of making, up the year's charges, might not be serious to the ratepayer, who had all the benefit of the use of hydro-electricity, but would certainly be a hardship to the ! settler in ' the more remote part, to whom the benefits might be long delayed. The manager, Mr. R. Sprague, reported that there were already signed up to be connected within the next three to six months 200 .two horse-power- motors, 10 one horse-power motors, and 235 • houses. Applications were coming in'daily for. connections to the mains in districts already reticulated, and the prospects for the success of the scheme appeared very bright. The estimated revenue from the sale of electricity for the year ending March 31, 1924, was £36,000 to £40,000. There would not he any necessity to collect a rate. Messrs. Gauvain and McLeod, engineers to the board, stated that in their initial report to the board they estimated the cost of the undertaking at £514,000, exclusive of interest during construction. The amount of work to be done was based on a canvass of the district which was carried out in May, 1920, and no attempt was made to provide reticulation for areas which proved on investigation to be unpayable. Their estimate included the erection of 856 route miles, equivalent to 916 circuit miles, of transmission lines, together with transformers, town reticulation and depotr. ' Settlement TJetermlnes Route. In laying out the main scheme it was fully realised that by the time it was completed other portions of the board's area would be sufficiently settled to justify the consideration of supplying power to these districts. Obviously, however, it was not practicable to endeavour to reticulate the whole of the board's area in the original scheme, for, working under such conditions, there would be no possibility of financial success. Certain definite routes and areas, based on the canvass referred to above, were therefore mapped out, with the intention of confining work to these areas. It had, however not been found possible to conform strictly to the original proposal owing to the fact that in certain parts of the area settlement had been rapid, necessitating in some cases a different route for feeder lines, and in other cases heavier or duplicate lines to deal with the demand, In conformity with the board's policy only those parts were being reticulated, apart from the main feeder lines which were a necessity, which would ensure a payable revenue at an early date, and, in general, the more payable sections were done first. To complete the scheme as laid out, there remained to be erected 345 circuit miles of line. These line*iwero chiefly of the low-tension and 3300-volt type, and, with the exception of poles, good stocks of materials were on hand, or would shortly arrive. All town reticulation had Sen completed. The majority Of transformers were already erected, and a further supply was due to arrive shortly.