CHEAPER POWER.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 21 October 1927, Page 8

CHEAPER POWER.

ELECTRICITY CHARGES IN CASHMERE. It is claimed by the Heathcote County Council that its charges for electricity in Cashmere are now the lowest in the Dominion. Lighting rates were recently reduced to 4d a unit and a reduction in other rates followed. In the City a flat rate of sd, and a maximum demand rate of 6d, is charged by the Municipal Electricity Department. For cooking and heating in Cashmere, the rates were reduced at a special meeting on Wednesday evening of the committee concerned from ljd to Id a unit. For water heating new rates are £lO a kilowatt per annum, or Id a unit through the meter, the hours being unrestricted. The Ad rate for night loading has been cut out.. Hitherto the rates have been ljd a unit in restricted hours and *d a unit between 9.30 p.m. and 7 a.m. and there was no special kilowatt rate. The charge for power for industrial purposes is to be 2d a unit for the first 120 units, and Id a unit after that. The former rates were 3d a unit for the first 80, 2d for the next 120, and Id over that.

Compared with the City, heating rates are now the same, but Cashmere gains an advantage, in respect of the Id unit over 120 units, over Christchurch. Eates in Cashmere are cheaper than those in other ridings in the county, the reason being that it is closely settled and is a big user of power.