A REASONABLE CHARGE

Evening Star, Issue 19781, 3 February 1928, Page 2

A REASONABLE CHARGE

FOR POWER 80PPLIED DISCUSSION IN ENGLAND An unfortunate fire necessitated the entire rebuilding of a cowhouse on my farm, and in doing tins I installed transport equipment, including elec-trically-controlled overhead runways and transporters (writes Alfred Ekstrom, M.Sc., in an English journal). I found tliis resulted in a reduction of my already relatively low running costs by about two-thirds without tho first building costs being increased.

When some months ago I gave a lecture before the Fanners’ Club in London, X was asked if L could state the advantage of electrifying a farm in actual money value. On that occasion I could give no other reply than that in fact there are so many indirect advantages in the electrification of the work on a farm, that even it not appraisible directly in money value they would mote than fully justify its electrification.

Since then I hay© ascertained the actual cost of carrying out various agricultural operations on a small farm, before and after electrification. 1 gave the result of these, investigations in a paper a few months ago. I shotted therein, that for a farmer, the introduction of electric light only, would by no means justify the installation of electricity. Indeed we consider such an electrification in Sweden to be, merely a luxury. J I‘, however, at the same time electricity is employed for driving a few motors—e.g., for pumping . water, chaff-cutting, grinding, milking, separating, corn crushing, and thrashing, the electrification of such a farm would be, under all conditions in England, a really profitable matter ■whore a two-part tariff is used, as at present introduced in many English towns for domestic purposes. This tariff usually consists partly of a fixed annual charge based ou the rateable value of the premises, or the acreage of the arable land, etc., and partly of a variable amount depending directly upon the electrical energy confined. In the paper that I have already mentioned I showed that—on a small farm with a consumption of about forty units (K Wh) per hectare (say sixteen units per acre) for light and motor power—electricity works out a maximum price of three or four pence per unit (K Wh). Such a price ought usually to bo realised in England, with a good profit for both the consumer and the electricity supply undertaking. Recently the ‘Daily Express,’ in their leading front news page article, reported a future electric ago for Great Britain as a result of the rapid progress wdiich was being mads with the national electricity scheme. They pointed out that Scotland had already been tackled, the Midlands, London, and South-eastern . districts wore now well in hand. This newspaper, moreover, sees the time to be very near when electric power for cooking, heating, washing, drying, cleaning, etc., will be supplied at the price of one farthing a unit. However effective and efficient this large national scheme may be for industry as well as for the . homes of Great Britain—l scarcely think it possible nor even consider it necessary to reduce the charge for power to such a lott' price as that mentioned by the ‘ Daily Express ’ to realise a real electric age. First, it may be pointed out, that as I have already mentioned a price of three to four pence a unit is quite reasonable, for electric energy for light and power in small units. In fact, through utilisation of electricity for such purposes ns cooking and water heating for the kitchen, which with the . above-mentioned two-part tariff will be supplied at the price of Id a unit, the consumption of energy will be increased so that even the mem tioned total maximum price of three or four ponce a unit will be considerably reduced. From the point of view of cooking this would be a satisfactory figure, just as the higher rate for lighting and power purposes was also an economical price. When it conies to a question of using electricity for the heating of water for the kitchen and the bathroom on .an extensive scale, however, an entirely new problem arises. For this 1 purpose, even such a low price as Id per unit is undoubtedly too high. It, however, it should be possible to provide a low price for electrical energy used tor this purpose, it is essential, to introduce some form of automatic control, so that the consumer. could utilise the same cables for heating and cooking as were used for light and power, without increasing bis maximum demand.