ELECTRICITY SUPPLY RATES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23118, 17 August 1938, Page 12

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY RATES

What the Minister of Public Works meant when he spoke of "a national flat rate for electricity" and the abolition of consumers' guarantees for supply has not been explained. Meanwhile the Electric-Power Boards and Supply Authorities' Association have received an assurance that Mr. Semple's undefined proposals have not been considered by the Government. That is not to say, however, that they may not be considered and approved, and the boards should seek to discover just what Mr. Semple has in mind. If the boards' security and financial arrangements are to be upset by the abolition of guarantees on uneconomic reticulation, they should have ample notice so that they may move to protect themselves and their constituents. As for the national flat rate, the question is whether Mr. Semple proposes to apply it to bulk supply by the Government to the boards or override the boards' tariffs in retailing electricity to consumers. The latter proposal only requires examination to uncover such grave weaknesses as to rule it out as impracticable. Something might be said for the Government supplying small power boards at the same rate as large ones, thus reducing in some measure the cost of current in rural areas. Whether the reduction would mean much to the rural consumer is doubtful, because heavy items of cost occur in reticulation and service in lightly settled areas. Mr. Semple might do better to reconsider the policy Mr. Coates sought to apply, of requiring urban boards to include rural areas in their districts and regarding rural development as a trust or obligation imposed on the richer resources of the urban areas. The principle was applied at the formation of the Auckland and Waitemata boards and might with advantage be extended to cover certain southern centres.