ONLY SOLUTION MORE COAL

Chronicle (Levin), 10 July 1946, Page 5

ONLY SOLUTION MORE COAL

l —Press Association 1

POWER CUTS BRING PROBLEMS

Bv Telearavh-

WELLINGTON, July 9. j ' In connection with the instruetion to j Power Boards and Supply Authorities from the State Hydro-Electrie Depart- . ment regarding the power supply, it is' understood the order is to impose cuts j in consumption double those whieh j have been in operation since last ! March. It is considered doubtful! whether, in some country district?, the! required savings can be ac-hieved with- 1 out a serious disruption of essential ! services. ! The standard allocation fixed by the department at the beginning of this ■ vear allowed to each authority each' week 3 per cent. more units than the ' greatest number it consumed in any of the corresponding weeks of .1943, 1944; or 1945. The increase of 3 per cent. was intended to meet the extra dernand arising from couneetions to new houses, hospitals and industries which the authorities by law are required to make. It was statpd at that time the alloea- 1 tion would be subject to review and that as eonditions demanded, the Load Despatcher at Hamilton, on belialf of; the Electricity Controller, might call i for reductions in accordance with three. seliedules. In the case of each aut-hor-' ity- the reduction under schedule 2 would be double that required under schedule 1, and the reduction under schedule 3 would be three times tliat, required under schedule 1. ' It has been' estimated that the approximate cuts involved on the standard allocation ! are: (Schedule 1, 13 per cent.; schedule 2, 26 per cent.; schedule 3, 39 per cent. Schedule 1 has been in operation since March and it is believed a general order has now been given for the ini-| position of schedule 2. Some authori-; ties have already been forced to cut olf the supply three liours a day in order to keep to schedule .1. It is considered that to achieve the saving now j required under schedule 2, they may in many cases have to cut six hours a day. j Their difficulties are accentuated by the fact that, in a number of districts, ■ particularly in the country, hospitals and other essential services are not on separate feeders therefore they cannot be given a continued supply while the | rest of the area is cut off. Asked to comm-ent on the situation, - the secretary of -the Electric Power j Boards' and Supply Authorities' Asso-J ciation,- Mr. N. G. Dunning, said the 1 prohlem of carrying out the direction j of the State Hydro-Electric Department j to reduce consumption, was one for the : local supply authorities concerned. | They had repeatedly warned the Gov-j ernment in the past' that the present snortage was coming. They had recently urged that the current 16 per cent. cut in hroadcasting hours should be increased to 50 per cent. but their request has not heen met. The only im- i mediate solution would he the produc- 1 tion of more coal for the fuel-burning ! plants at Auckland and Wellington. If there were ample fuel availahle for those plants he doubted whether any cuts would he necessary.