MOUNTING DEMAND FOR POWER

Putaruru Press, Volume XXVI, Issue 1313, 20 January 1949, Page 8

MOUNTING DEMAND FOR POWER

HIGHER WATER LEVELS Supply Position Still Indifferent Though the levels of Lakes Taupo and Waikaremoana, principal sources of water for production of electrical energy in the North Island, are substantially higher than at the same time last year, the ever-increasing demand for power to a great extent nullifies this advantage. This is the consensus of opinion among -supply authorities and engineers. "'Although-cheered by the fact that Lake Taupo is 1176.50 feet above sea level, in the vicinity of the maximum control level, they still sound a note of caution so far as consumption is concered. Waikaremoana is now at a level of 2:000.5 feet, compared with the 1994.3 feet a year ago, giving a larger reserve of water with which to meet the coming winter. As a result of the improved water storage no additional restrictions have been imposed by the department on power authorities and consumers beyond the allocation limit. Mainly owing to the operation of new equipment at Karapiro, the 1948 winter passed of relatively well and few absolute cuts were necessary anywhere. In the Thames Valley area (the board was able to keep within its allocation of units for the year until the closing stagets, when consumption rose until at the end of the year the 'board was 2.423- per cent in excess of its allocation. In units, according to the chief engineer, Mr N. G. McLeod, this was 1,789,161 over the allocation for the year. The hoard’s actual consumption was 75,617,911 units, despite requests to keep consumption down and the reduction in voltage to help the board keep within its allocation. An increase of 4 per cent on last year’s allocation has been given by the controller, Mr A. E. Davenport, for 1949. In the case of Thames Valley hoard, however, this will be reduced to I.S per cent in view of 2.4 per cent excess consumption last year. Every care will have to be exercised by consumers to prevent arbitrary cut-offs in times of crisis during the coming winter. Despite strict adherence to the various control orders governing the use of electric power the last year was unable to meet the increasing demand for power for perfectly legitimate purposes. It has an obligaion to give supply to new houses, farms and certain industrial undertakings, and since considerable development has taken place throughout the area during the past year, more power has been used. When compared with metropolitan residents those in Thames Valley have escaped lightly so far during the power shortage, the worst winter having been in 1947. Even then severe cuts were of brief duration and were arranged to give the minimum of inconvenience to everyone exeeplt the unfortunate housewife, who frequently found herself deprived of power at the time of the evening meal. Elsewhere, however, power was off for many hours a dav and over a period of months. The relatively fortunate position of the Valley was due mainly to the fact that its farming load was light during the winter months, when consumption in the cities was high, and consequently when urban supply authorities were arbitrarily cut off by the department through being in excess of allocation, Thames Valley was able to -keep within reasonable reach of its- quota. The same position will obtain during the coming year, and given the co-operation of consumers it is expected that complete cuts will he relatively infrequent. Statistics concerning consumption during the year of interest are the average daily consumption in units in the board’s area, 209,000, andl the weekly average, 1,460,000. The highest single day was September 8, when 237,000 units were consumed, and the highest week was that ending August 22, when the figure was 1,630,144 units.