POWER REQUIREMENTS HEAVY

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1236, 26 June 1947, Page 3

POWER REQUIREMENTS HEAVY

ELECTRIC WATER HEATERS Board Officers At, Mangateparu “If domestic waterheaters were eliminated from the homes tha-e would be. very little necessity for cuts,” said Mr. R. Sprague, manager of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board, when . addressing farmers at Mangateparu on Wednesday. The meeting was convened by Federated Farmers, hut the attendance was disappointing, only 14 being present. Mr. Sprague was accompanied by Messrs. J. F. Mayn, chairman of the board, N. G. McLeod, chief engineer, and G. Lindsay, assistant engineer. Mr. O. W. Mulcahy. presided. Describing the power shortage as very real, Mr. Sprague said that as far back as 1941, when rationing commenced, the position was critical. In 1941 the board was instructed to mater waterheaters. and was assured it would not be penalised. Despite this assurance, however, other boards which did not comply with the instructions, and had .in their areas large scale military camps and industrial undertakings producing war materials, benefited at the expanse of Thames Valley. Priorities Fixed - The board thoroughly investigated the question of cuts, fixing priorities in the following order: dairy industry, secondary industries domestic users. There had been considerable criticism relating to cuts as between boards, but there were urban and rural boards, and Thames Valley had to ensure there was no interference with supply to farmers and dairy factories. Four hour's’ uninterrupted supply was essential for the manufacture of casein. To ensure continuity of supply the board kept in touch with every dairy factory in its district. Several big secondary industries operated in the board’s area and for these, working unde- award conditions, the position at times was most difficult. They would be penalised again when the dairy season commenced. However, said Mr. Sprague, the position had improved during the past three weeks, and further improvement was anticipated' before the meeting of Parliament. Plant at ArapurJ Mr. Sprague described as pathetic the position at Arapuni, where the plhnt, instead of working to its capacity of 145,000 kilowatts, was putting through only 60.000. Three units were idle for want of water. Mr. Mayn considered adequate stand-by plant necessary, but it was not easily acquired. If available, the Government would foe required to find dollars for its purchase, and one plant which was under consideration would cost up to 3,000,000 dollars. This would mean dipping into Britain’s dollar pool. According to computations increases in loading would overtake production, and in the event of another dry season further trouble would be experienced. Mr. McLeod quoted figures relating to electricity consumption and said prevision for stand-by plant should not be looked upon as waste, but as insurance. With . adequate standnby plant the load could be so built that when new stations came in there would be a good load on which to start. A stand-by plant would be a load-builder as well as an insurance and would pay for itself, while from the national and economic viewpoint the industry would develop and expand. Uhe of Waterheaters Stating he had studied' the necessity for restrictions, steps taken to give effect to the electricity control order, and the result of cuts imposed, Mr. Lindsay used 1 a graph to illustrate the effects of the various restrictions. Domestic waterheaters consumed 22.2 per cent., and farm waterheaters 20.2 pe,r cent, of available power, from which it would be seen that together they used nearly half thfe supply. Rev. enue from domestic and farm heaters amounted to £20,3-92 and £18,758 respectively. If the use of water heaters was prohibited there would be little need for other cuts. Street lighting used very.little power. Asked ;by Mjr. ; D. W. C. Cooper (Tauhei) how the board would recover losses o-n its workings, stated to be between £l4O and £l6O daily, Mr. Sprague said there was no intention to increase charges to consumers but to use portion of those reserves put aside in the good years.

« Position Improving Answering Mff. C. Cates (Te Puniflga), who suggested that the biggest concentration of farm waterheaters in New Zealand was located in the board’s area, and who urged the board to support the idea of stand-by plants, Mr. Mayn said the board thought that soon matters would so improve that the morning and evening cuts might disappear, and night cuts he varied to suit the night water heating load. To Mr. W. F. Stark (Motumaoho), who sought an assurance that there would -be power to keep water pumps active 24 hours of the day in the summer months, Mr. Sprague said the position would be “pretty” good in November and December, when there was no big loading in the cities. Restrictions would not be in force to-day, he said, if water wag available. Conditions definitely had improved at Waika-emoana and Taupo, which were snow fed. There had been, little snow for two years.