ELECTRICITY DEMAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 201, 26 August 1943, Page 4

ELECTRICITY DEMAND

FUTURE POSSIBILITIES VIEWS OF *IB. G. A. AMMUNDSEN. Napier, Aug. 24. “One of the surprises of the past four years has been that, in spite of the disorganisation of many homes through the absence of menfolk on military duty, the demand from domestic Consumers has not declined, but has actually continued to show a steady increase.” said Mr. G. A. Ammundsen (Wanganui), president of the secretaries' branch of the New Zealand Electric Power Supply Authorities in his presidential address to the annual conference in Lapier today. The difficulty of obtaining alternative fuels, particularly wood and coal, as well as their comparatively high cost when they could be obtained, and the steady lowering of prices for electricity, which was made considerably more economic than any other heating or cooking agency, tended to attract 'business even under present conditions, he said. “None of us can have a doubt that the huge volume of new business to be done and the rate at which it will come will be dependent on the opportunity that the public will have to obtain the desired power and the consuming appliances,” said Mr. Ammundsen. He pointed out that developments in design and methods of production of all these things during the war might be expected to influence the market extensively and instanced the fact that an electric range of which the body was all moulded plastic had already been produced. “Whether the New Zealand public is to have these modern appliances made, available,” he declared, “or whether it will continue to be starved of a selection of either type or quality in many of its electrical purchases are questions to which none of us just now know the answer.”