POWER BOARD'S WORK.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 21 October 1927, Page 6

POWER BOARD'S WORK.

ELECTRIFYING THE COUNTY. RECORD OF STEADY INCREASES. The- operations of the Ashburton Electric Power Board have steadily increased since its ■ constitution in November, 1921, until it is one of the best and most financial power-distributing centres' in New Zealand. In fact tho record of the Board marks it as perhaps the most progressive and successful of those set up by the Public Works Department. In the six years of its existence the Board has reticulated every part of tho Ashburton County with the exception of two unsettled tracts of land. Its policy of insisting that every consumer being connected first guaranteeing a revenue for three years, which must exceed the estimated operating requirements on the. line has been the cause of avoiding any losses and has materially assisted in persuading consumers into taking every opportunity of the power available. Figures That Talk. When the Board was formed and took over from the old supply company, the average cost per unit of power to the consumer was 0.7 d. In the first year of the Board's operation the cost was reduced to 4.5 d, in the second year to 2.76 d, and at the end of the last financial year the coat had been decreased to 2.46 d. In proportion to this fall in cost to the consumer can be seen an increase in the number of consumers and the number of units generated or purchased per consumer. In 1923-24 the consumers numbered 1022 and units purchased were 519 per head; in 1924-25 the figures were 1870 and 709; in 1925-26 2507 and 990 units; and for 1926-27 the number has risen to 2804 consumers with 1368 units generated or purchased per consumer. At the present time there are 2892 consumers. The total units generated per annum has, of course, risen also from 529,687 to 1923-24 to 3,839,633 at the end of the last financial year. On a reasonable estimate ou the six months' working of the* present financial year it will reach five million units by March, 1928. Revenue earned totalled £7496' for 1923-24, and for March, 1925, to March, 1926, had swelled to £31,391 from £23,588 for the preceding year. The estimated revenue this year will be well up to the £35,000 mark. The last financial year's maximum demand for power was 1248 kva., an increase of 318 kva. on the demand for the year before, and the connected load had risen from 6645 kilowatts to 8126 k.w. The amount raised by the Board to date under its loan authorities is £320,900, of which the following is the approximate allocation: — Reticulation system ... 300,000 Trading and construction stocks' ... 12,C00 Amounts outstanding on finani cial assistance, block ten- v ders, etc. ... ... 4,400 Cash at bank ... .... 4,500 Total ... ... ...£320,000

A Forward Policy. "This increase in revenue," said the secretary-engineer to the Board (Mr G. S. Kemp) referring to the progress of the institution, "has only been obtained by loading up the system and quite unexpected results have been obtained in some districts. It has been found necessary to supplement the equipment at various places. These additions were amply justified by increased revenue and by the duty of the Board to give the best possible service to its consumers. No doubt this will be a recurring matter, but each additional expenditure will bo justified by increased revenue;" Mr Kemp referred to the distribution system of the Board. The power is brought from the Public Works Department's Coleridge works, and the Board undertakes all distribution and reticulation in Ashburton County. The installation of static condensers last February has already shown this forward movo justified. Based on the experience of the last 9 months, the saving made by the condensers amounts to £I6OO per annum so that from these figures the savings made by the condensers should pay for the Board's total outlay on the equipment in 18 months. It is therefore apparent that the installation of the condensers was a most satisfactory move on the part of the Board. "With regard to its distribution system," he said, "the Board may safely claim that, as the result of installing automatic switchgear in its six main sub-stations outside Ashburton, which itself is an attended station, with the addition of automatio voltage regulators in two of the sub-stations and static condensers for power factor correction at Ashburton, it has the most efficient system of control in New Zealand. It is interesting to note that the installation of automatic switchgear made by the Board, which was the initial installation for this service in New Zealand, has been quite extensively followed since by other Boards." "Compared with the previous two years, the amount of extension of the system carried out has been comparatively small, but on the other hand the operation of the system necessitated much more attention," said Mr F. W. Watt, chairman, when commenting on the position, at the end of the 192526 financial year. "The Board's policy in energetically pushing the sales of

appliances to consumers has been continued during the year with results that, when circumstances are taken into consideration, must be considered The financial depression existing during the year naturally had an adverse effect on sales and the anticipated quotas vere nbt realised, although the actual results attained were only a little short of those of the previous year. It is pleasing to note that the present tone is considerably brighter than for some time past. The results of the sales policy appear in a striking manner in the unexpected increase in the revenuetfor the year and confirm the wisdom of the Board's willingness to spend money in the developing of new business."