ELECTRIC CHARGES.

Thames Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17928, 2 July 1930, Page 5

ELECTRIC CHARGES.

LAST MONTH’S BILLS.

General Consternation.

FIFTY PER CENT. HIGHER. ■ SEARCH FOR EXPLANATION® Consumers of electricity in til Borough of Thames have, to s‘-fl the least of it, l*een mystified ll tho fact that their accounts for till month, on an average, show soml thing like 50 per cent, more to pal for their ‘electricity, whilst many afl sell; that the quality of the lightinl current has been distinctly inferior. I That there is ground for complain! uiil be seen when the investigation! of a “Thames Star” reporter nr! given. I For instance here are the figure* of a private house for the month ol June for the past three yearsl 1928 . . . 1 51- . I 1929 . . . 20/- I 1930 ... 25/10 It will he noted, of course, that these figures are the gross charges, without the discount, but an even more extraordinary jump is shown! when it is mentioned; that the account for May, 1930, the month be-, fore the 25/10 account was only 16/8. Naturally the householder wants to know why, and his desire will be shared by' nearly every consumer ot electricity in the town.

Enquiries were made from representatives of practically every class of business, and in practically every case, the amounts had jumped from 25 to 50 per cent, over the figures of last year, whilst the concensus of opinion Was that the service was definitely ‘ worse. In the case of ,a business man the charge for precisely the same number of points is no less than £4/19/8 more for June, 1930, than for June, 1929. Although there has been on examination of a number of accounts, a steady rise shown up till the June accounts, there is nothing startling, until these ifast few figures, which seem to be out of all reason. • Interviewed bv a “Thames Star’ reporter, Mr. L. Griffin, Borough electrical engineer, after ringing up the Borough office, said that there had been about 20 complaints at the office. •- V "

Mr. Griffin’s only 'explanation vras that the consumers must lie using more “juice?’ He could see nothing else for it. The* voltage was certainly a bit low since Arapuni was off—in the early part of the evening only—but rose later. It should not affect the amount people were using. Mr. Griffin said that apparently the position at Arapuni did not seriously affect the situation in Thames" His department was only too willing to listen to complaints and was anxious to see that- service was given. It was willing at any time to carry cut meter tests on request. v , An expert electrician who has 'had considerable experience outside the district, stated that, m his opinion the trouble was due to Arapuni He explained that there had obviously been a drop m the voltage of the current supplied to the consumers, as was shown by the poor-i ness of the lights noticed recently,! and when a drop in voltage occurred this indicated that more amperage was used. “Consequently,” he said, “the meter simply races around to make up the deficiency.” . When asked what deficiency he really meant, he smildd and remarked “that the reporter had better had better ask the men who built Ara puni.”, Be all this as it may, it is rather poor consolation for the Thames co - sumers of electricity to kave tlieir metos Rattling out .“The . Arapuni SJp” wllilst they are receiving an inferior service as far as lig l concerned, and then h * vet from 25 to 50 per cent., more monev for it on the “Fatal Fourteenth.