POWER BOARD PROPOSALS.

Waipa Post, Volume XVII, Issue 961, 29 June 1920, Page 4

POWER BOARD PROPOSALS.

IN connection with to-morrow’s loan authority poll of the Electric Power Board it is well to regard, on a commercial basis, the incidence of the loan. Leaving entirely the great benefits which must accrue' from this enterprise—the facilities it will give and the comfort and economy for all who need the light and the power, it is quite possible to see in the whole undertaking that which is commercially sound and revenue producing. It may be assumed that we have, on the one hand, the Power Board with its present proposals; on the other hand a private company establilhing itself to carry the proposed works to completion.

The Company would raise the money required by the issue of shares, and would call up its capital from year to year as the progress of the works necessitated. It would act as the wholesaler, purchasing the current in bulk from the power station and retailing it to the consumers. No doubt its retail charges would be higher than those proposed toy the Board, but the recurring revenue would be such as to return a dividend to those who. had taken up the investment. There is not the least doubt that the company would be dividend-earning; the precedent of every such company proves this to be a highly business. The Board, on the other hand, does not proceed by the issue of shares. It has wider powers of finance than the Company and, by adopting a traditional method of spreading the repayments over a period, goes on to the market to raise, by way of a loan, the capital necessary for the establishment. To the money-lender security must be offered, and this is done by the pledging of a security rate for 36| years. It is a system toy which the district accepts a rate-liability—a thing quite different from a rate collection. The Board will act as the wholesaler, and will derive in revenue from the distribution of the marketable commodity more than sufficient revenues to cover the rate liability. If the Board had nothing to sell, and if its proposals were of a highly hazardous nature, the rate might be necessary, but since there is the immediate assurance of revenue *■ the prospect of the rate ever being heard of after polling-day is very remote indeed. What is a sound proposition for private enterprise to take up ought certainly to be sound enough for community acceptance. 'There is also the question of what the cost to-day is for kerosene and benzine. Large sums are being sent month after month from this district to powerful American trusts for a commodity which finds a very uncertain place on the market. Supplies are difficult to obtain, prices are steadily rising, and the whole industries of the district which require power are restricted in consequence. Even if the same amount of money diverted'fot electrical power there will the great

advantage of security from strikes or other causes which hamper supplies. But the cost will be less under electricity than it is for kerosene and bepzine; were it not so why should Canterbury unitedly adopt the services from Lake Coleridge? A sound commercial enterprise, security for our industries, and economy in the power and lighting charges are for determination to-morrow, and\the opportunity thus offered should be wisely acted on by a wise community.