BULK SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18929, 26 April 1933, Page 9

BULK SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY.

(To the Editor). , Sir, —The question of the quarterly peak on which the various Power Boards are so much concerned relative to the method of charging by the ■supply authority, has not, in the writer’s opinion, been dealt with as one would anticipate. It should be obvious from the recent conference held in Hamilton between the various Power Boards and the department, that a reduction In the price for bulk supply Is not even on the horizon. It must be apparent to all who have followed the prosecution of the Government’s power polioy that the time has long since passed when effective protest should have been applied to oheck the scandalous waste of public money on projects that were entirely lacking In engineering prudence and that could not hope to fill the bill and supply what Is so great an essential—namely, “cheap power,” which is rightly claimed to be the first fundamental In Industrial progress. The crisis through which we are now passing, has made tills fact only, too apparent; the failure to give even a ■measure of relief, in such difficult times to the primary producer, in the matter of power charges, is an open confession that the capital expenditure on the major stations, to which must be added the excessive maintenance charges, are out of all proportion to the benefits received. To be told, as wo were, at the recent conference, that in comparison with New York and Yorkshire, New Zealand was in a very favourable position, is surely a climax. Conferences such as these are in the main abortive, duo to the entire lack of Intelligent engineering and ■technical argument. This, while giving no redress to the power user in the present Instance would at least lay bare Hie obvious fact that “someone has blundered.” It should now he apparent that no relief from the department is possible other than at the expense of the general taxpayer. Statistics such as those arc of no value, being purely an indication of weakness, and to get result's worth recording the business should be handled with the "gloves off." It might lie as well to explain here ithe maximum demand system of charging from a supply authority’s viewpoint for tho benefit of those not versed in tlie.se matters. Tnko two consumers, A and R, each using ten units a day. A uses one kilowatt for one hour (one unit), two kilowatts for two hours (four units), twenty kilowatts for one quarter hour (live units); his maximum demand is twenty kilowatts. b has tried lo keep ills average load as high as posJble and use* hi* Uu Mnits as I'd-

ows: one kilowatt for two hours (two units), two kilowattß for three lours (six units), four kilowatts for half an hour (two units). In this :ase his maximum demand >is foul kilowatts. A thousand consumers, like A requiro station plant capacity of 20,000 kilowatts, whilst a thousand B type consumers can ho supplied by an Installed capacity of 4000 k.w. of plant to carry the supply over peak periods. In the majority of cases the supply authority is responsible for the capital expenditure on copper for the reticulated area, which cost is closely related to the nature of the load. In New Zealand, however, this Is not the case, the various Power Boards reticulating their own area of supply. This makes the department’s chargo all the more iniquitous, and with the knowledge that the station plant is more than adequate to meet a reasonable' demand, quito inadmissible and outside the realm of fairness; It constitutes really a mis-directed endeavour to obtain revenuo by any source, however uinstitutional. The Power Boards and dairy companies combined have the solution of this present problem In their own hands. They can, in effect give to their consumers and clients respectively what the department has refused as impossible. They are agreed that the charge is admittedly unfair and is tending lo further cripple a struggling .industry. Hctalio I ion on well-considered engineering lines is quite possible and could lie given effect to by a combination of effort. It is not, for mo lo criticise, hul one sees a very noticeable lack of iniliativc on essentials of such vital matters i as the one under consideration by the |

various boards’ officers, and It Is their job to get somewhere, ( It Is fully time the “cap In the hand" methods were cut out and they worked out their own problem as to what ■ constitutes efficiency and the means of obtaining It.—l am etc., “CONSUMER." Cambridge, April 22, 1933.