POWER NOT TOO DEAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 812, 5 November 1929, Page 16

POWER NOT TOO DEAR

REPLY TO TRANSPORT BOARD HIGH OVERHEAD CHARGES That the Auckland Transport Board’s present difficult financial position could not be blamed on high charges by the Auckland ElectricPower Board was stated by Mr. W. J. Holdsworth at a meeting of the Power Board yesterday. Charges in Auckland were higher than in the other three main centres, but a fair basis of comparison was hard to discover. The Auckland board was an independent body, said Mr. Holdsworth, unlike those of other centres where the one department controlled both the electricity supply and the tramways systems. An agreement made when the board was formed laid down the stipulation that power, after the first year when, even with the charge standing at 1.35 d a unit the tramways showed a profit, was to be supplied at cost. The price had dropped steadily since 1923 to 1.076 d a unit last year, a reduction of 20 per cent. The Transport Board was saving £13,000 a year through the closing of the Hobson Street station, and was also saving £20,943 through the reduction in price since the first year of operation. The Power Board had no right to make a contribution to the transport undertaking through selling power under cost price. It was unfair to compare Auckland to Dunedin or Christchurch, since electricity costs twice as much to distribute in the scattered northern area as in the south, and capital costs are much higher in Auckland.