NEW RECORD IN ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

Putaruru Press, Volume XXVI, Issue 1351, 13 October 1949, Page 3

NEW RECORD IN ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

ALLOCATION EXCEEDED Thames Valley Board’s Figures •‘Last month it was reported that an all time record of 246,484 units for one day and 1,693,333 units for one week had been recorded,” said Mr G. P. Lindsay, chief engineer to the Thames Valley Electric Power Board, at last meeting of the board. “These figures,” he continued, “have been exceeded this month —249,496 units being registered on September 21, and 1,711,306 units for the week ending September 25.” Summarised the position was: Allocation to date, 56,154,150; amount used, 59,031,398; excess to date, 2,877,248, or 5.12 per cent. TJp till September 4 the board’s unit allocation had risen steadily by approximately 26,000 units per week. Since then it had dropped by 1300 units weekly and would continue to do so until the end of the year. A table showing the board’s consumption did not show the* downward tendency usually expected about this time of the year, Mr Lindsay said. For the first 39 weeks of the year the Te Aj-oha borough was shown to be 1.22 per cent, under its allocation and Thames was 1.56 per cent, under, while the whole of the board was in excess of the allocation of 56,154,150 units by 2,877,248 units, or 5.12 per eent.

FURTHER CONNECTIONS Possibility of Blackouts The total number of consumers connected to the Thames Valley Electric Power Board’s mains now totalled 15,597, stated the manager, Mr R. Sprague. Thames and Te Aroha boroughs were included, and numbered 1458 and 922, respectively.

Lighting and heating connections during the month numbered 83, ranges 62, waterheaters 80, industrial motors 21, motors on farms 44, of which 14 were milking motors. There were now connected and operating 5462 ranges, 8736 waterheaters, 1567 industrial motors and 8701 motors on farms, of which 3910 were milking motors. In addition, 72 consumers had had additional heating and lighting connections made. The connected load for the month was 1059.05 kw. It would be noticed, said Mr Sprague, that the connected load for the month was again very heavy, and taken in connection with the excess of units over allocation, could leave no doubt whatever that consumers must suffer blackouts in the very near future, a state of affairs that would continue until Maraetai operated. In a special report outlining the future policy of the State HydroElectric Department, which was brought forward by the department,

one of the most critical statements was the notification that the charges from the department to the power boards would have to be again increased in order that the department could pay its way. That would be most difficult for power boards to carry owing to the continual increase in materials and wages, which must result in increased charges. *