POWER CUTS MAY BE INTRODUCED WITHOUT WARNING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 53, 14 February 1949, Page 5

POWER CUTS MAY BE INTRODUCED WITHOUT WARNING

Serious Position At Whakatane Unless the consumption of electricity at Whakatane drops considerably within the next few days severe power cuts are to be introduced without further warning, the borough electrical engineer, Mr F. Lysaght, said in a Press statement. ..The whole district will be affected •by the cuts. Mr Lysaght said that for a long while now Whakatane had been consuming more electricity than its allocation. As a result, two cautions from the electricity controller at Wellington had been received warning that cuts would have to be made. “Unless every consumer at i Whakatane realises the position and brings in his own selfrationing, cuts will be brought in without further warning. Everybody is in on this. Every little bit of power saved will bring down consumption,” Mr Lysaght added. Many people do not realise that all extra power that is used now is later debited against their district during the severe winter cuts. Whakatane is now well over its quota and unless the position improves considerably within the next few days it is almost pertain that this district will have a very cold winter. . The reason for cuts in the summer is to save water for the winter. Those in charge of the power stations want to start the winter with full lakes behind the dams so there will be adequate water to drive all the machinery. Up to the present there has been a struggle to save the required water. Whakatane has had severe power cuts before and they are not wanted again. However, they will be brought into operation if consumption is not lowered. This can only be done in the home and business houses. Every light left on and every piece of machinery left running that is not in USe will help to bring back these cuts. Severe self rationing will avoid them.