Reaction To Power Cuts

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 35, 6 April 1948, Page 5

Reaction To Power Cuts

Public Response Is Good, Says Engineer So far at Whakatane public response to the power cuts has been good, and there has been no evasion of the heating restrictions according to Mr F. W. Lysaght, Borough electrical engineer, who discussed the subject with the Beacon yesterday. Asked what he thought of the prospects for the immediate future, Mr Lysaght said he was afraid even heaier cuts might have to be imposed if there was not sufficient heavy rain to restore the storage level in the lakes. That would need several inches over a wide area. Mr Lysaght went on to say for the public’s own benefit and, to a lesser degree, for the electricians’ benefit, that all small electric ap-.... pliances and lights should be switched off when the power was turned off. When asked the reason he said that if all domestic switches were left down until the end of the cut and then the power was thrown in, the sudden freak load created by the immediate surge was sufficient in some cases to blow out small refrigerators, heaters and bulbs. As for the Power Board crew, they found it extremely difficult to throw in the main switch, because there was a danger of their lifting all their main transformer fuses. If that happened, consumers would have imposed an extra power cut on themselves, besides making a lot of wholly unnecessary work for the Power Board’s men. There has been considerable discussion about town as to why the Government does not start constructing hydro-schemes on all the little rivers in the country, many saying that these stations could cope with the local load. Anent these comments Mr Lysaght said that all these schemes were under consideration by the Government, but, with the present shortage of material such as reinforcing steel and cement, it had been though advisable to concentrate on the completion of the major schemes. •*

Lake Levels Rise The steady drop in the level of Lake Taupo was arrested by a fall of 2.12 in of rain in the 24 hours to 9 o’clock on Saturday morning. Following the rain, the lake’s level rose by more than an inch to 1172.75 ft, which, however, is only 9in above the minimum levej. of control. Assisted by 1.62 in of rain in the 24 hours to 9 o’clock on Saturday morning and a further 0.33 in in the succeeding 24 hours, the level of Lake Waikaremoana continued to rise during the week-end.