COLLECTING COST IS TOO HIGH FOR LIGHTING BILLS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18786, 15 June 1929, Page 23 (Supplement)

COLLECTING COST IS TOO HIGH FOR LIGHTING BILLS.

GOOD SALESMAN IS SECRET OF IMPROVED M.E.D. SERVICE.

(By

COUNCILLOR MRS E. R. M’COMBS.)

It may seem strange to say that the world is only now waking up to the' great undeveloped possibilities which exist in connection with the economic distribution and use of electricity in the home and in the factory. Scientific development and engineering skill have revolutionised costs of production. The problem now confronting all supply authorities is how to stimulate demand and thus reduce distributive costs. The future is with the salesmen economists.

Under public ownership, as under private enterprise, there must be good salesmanship, the only difference being the substitution of the “ service ” motive for the “ profit ” motive. • In a previous article I drew attention to the fact that the cost of -current per unit sold was less than a halfpenny, whereas other charges amounted to nearly three-farthings. Last year the average cost of current to the Christchurch City Council was .41 pence.

A Penny-Farthing Policy. We have been priding ourselves on the fact that a large number of consumers’ monthly accounts with the M.E.D. are as low as 3s 6d and ss. Under such a policy it is not surprising that our distributive costs and overhead should exceed all other charges. With a more enlightened policy we could be delivering ten or twelve times the amount of electricity into each of these homes at threfe or four times the present cost, and then the housewife would have enough electricity for cleaning, washing, lighting, heating and cooking. At present we have all the wiring, all the meter reading, and all the overhead costs to deliver a penny-farthing’s worth of electricity every day. Stimulated Demand.

At the recent Engineers’ Conference held in Wellington I notice that the president had something to. say on this vr>ry point. “I believe,” Tie said, “ we have not yet started what I might call the second phase of our work when stimulated demand and increased load will bring about reduced charges and greater benefits both to the supplier and to the consumer. . . . To my mind it is just at this point that we want even better work and more cooperation than in the first phase.” Discussing reductions in the schedule of charges, Mr Toogood went on to say: “Too often a start to amend charges is made at the wrong end The most' popular charge to reduce is lighting, but in actual practice this often gives very little benefit' to the consumer, and most often is a dead loss to the supplier, because'it is not a service stimulated greatly by cheap rates. A farthing per unit on the cooking rate may, on the other hand, cause more customers to use this service, and so return to the authority the first loss from individual customers.” Salesmanship is so vital to the future development of the hydro-electric industrv that it is not surprising that rfc was dealt with in the presidential address. Christchurch M.E.D. Until we take in hand the develop ment of the Waimakariri the problem in Christchurch is wholly a question of distribution. We have a ten-year contract with the Government under the terms x>f which the more current that is used the lower is the wholesale cost per kilowatt. With stimulated de mand we can reap a double advantage k ..e cost of current and the cost of distribution will both be lowered. The president of the Engineers’ Conference has shown how demand can be stimulated and output increased to the mutual advantage of the supply authority consumer. More Net Profits. Recently I whiled away the time riding from Sumner to Christchurch by reading a book entitled “More Net Profits.’* These were some of the slogans “As soon as a firm becomes a bureaucracy profit stops. And the larger the firm is the more likely is it to be clogged up with its own routine.” “Seek new methods, not new capital.” ‘‘The percentage of cost depends most of all upon the volume of sales. Increase sales and the costs go down.” “Double your sales and halve your " costs—that is the right way.” The Great Awakening. There is world-wide interest in what has been called the new phase of electrical development. This week a cable from Ottawa, commenting on the British elections, informed us that W hen Mr Ramsay MacDonald visited Canada he was particularly outspoken regarding the opportunities for manufacture ing offered by the Canadian west.” England also is tackling the problem and in the Midlands there has been tremendous development during -the past two years. Last year the output of electricity was nearly doubled, the increase in one year being 87 per cent. Since the passage of the special legislation in 1926 the increase has been 140 per'cent. Mr Stanley Baldwin, when Prime Minister, recently said:— “ If I looked back over four years I would pick out two gfeat measures as most destined to bear the best fruit in the future years. First, the great Electricity Act passed during the first year of office _ ... It may be years yet before the country gets the full benefit of the Electricity Act, but we are progressing, and I rejoice when I see the wires going from the great power stations into our small towns and our rural districts. . . When 1 think of the benefits that I have seen cheap electricity bringing ifitc the rural districts, in parts of the Continent that I know, and on the American Continent, I look forward to the day when we ma> have the full benefit of it at home, and I hope that the wider and more long-sighted men among those who have influence in our part of the world will do all they can to help to fu. ;her the knowledge of this great service and the use of it among the people among whom they live.” “ News From Ireland.” Under the above heading, “ The Month ” publishes interesting news regarding electrical devolpment in Ireland. “Ireland will soon be electrified. On the banks of the Shannon a power house is rising equalled only by the largest which America has installed at the Falls of Niagara. It will have a generated output of 180,000 horsepower, and will distribute light, heat and power by overhead cables tc’ every town, village, factory and home in the Irish Free State. The winding Shannon is to set the supply going. It is not a mighty river, but its hundred feet descent between Killaloe and

Limerick is enough. A dam now t. osses the river above O’Brien’s Bridge. The dam turns the river aside into a canal and the waters in it rush across country to Ardnacrusha. A Smaller Panama Canal. At Ardnacrusha—poetic sounding name—the canal waters pass through sluices to the power-house now rising above the great penstocks like giant snails of banded steel, which will feed the rushing waters to the turbines. The task of carrying the Shannon’s waters by canal to Ardnacrusha’s power-station was a tremendous work of engineering. When the powei plant is set in motion this summer the canal waters will pass into a sluice-house, through a screen three hundred yards long into the penstocks twenty feet in diameter. The gathered waters will fall 100 feet on to the turbines, the t. rbines will start the generator shafts, and dectricity will begin to flow through the land.

A Great Adventure. The cost of the work will be over five million pounds. It is a great adventure for a little country; but it may bring about an industrial revolution there, for till now Ireland has used fewer electric units per head of the population than the islanders of the remote Faroes. The consumption is only 17 units, as against 1150 in Canada, 1000 in Switzerland, 710 in United States, and 282 in Britain.