GREY POWER BOARD.

Grey River Argus, 17 February 1927, Page 6

GREY POWER BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Grey 'Electric Power Board was held la-t evening. Present: Alessrs J. W. Green- 4 sladc (Chairman). J. O'Brien, H. Duggan. J. Alulcare, W. Clayton and A. Robinson. Air. R. Stewart wrote claiming £25 compensation from the Board as the result of its operations. «n crossing his property with wires at coal creek. It was decided to take no action in the matter. It was decided that consideration of the Engineer's rec mmendation regarding the installation of the standby pumping equipment be held over until the next meeting of the Board. The Kaiata Ratepayors’ Association wrote asking the Board to Jink up those houses in the Kaiata district which ha 1 been waiting for some time for power. It was decided to send a reply to th? Association stating that the delay wa.i due to shortage of material and the houses would be connected up as soon as material was available. The New River Dredging Coy. wrote agreeing to secure the services of an independent engineer for the purpose ‘if minimising the fluctuations in power caused by the Company’s dredging operations.—The letter was /received. In connexion with this matter the Engi neer stated that an initial equipment could be installed which would greatly minimise the trouble but he expressed the opinion could not be completely eliminated. ENGINEER’S REPORT. The Engineer stated all the poles for the Camerons line have been erected and stringing has commenced. Every endeavour will be made to complete this work during the fine weather. The contractor for the Brunncr-Ngahere line has the major portion of the poles between Spring ('reek and Brunner now erected and a start has been made the poles round the Bluff near the railway. •Should the fine weather continue, this l’ne should be completed within thv time specified. The delivery o£ low tension insulators cable etc., is overdue. The orders were then placed in October and the contractors now notify me that the delay is due to the rec-ent coal strike ir England. Last week the insulators were delivered, but no ironwork is forthcoming. This ironwork is necessary to complete the insulators. The contractors for the cable etc., have no-

tified this material is on the s.s. Hereford, which is shortly due to arrive. A targe amount of material has been pur chased from time to time with the an thority of the Hoard. The position now is that our stocks are completely depleted and certain work will be delayed until this material comes to hand. J House Boiler Room —Cp to the T have been spread round the Power \ House site, but it is now necessary to provide a light railway and truck to transport the ashes clear of the building. The estimated cost of suitable rails, sleepers, truck and labour will be in th” neighbourhood of £5O. Authority is requested to put this work in hand. The necessity for requiring guarantees is unavoidable, as a minimum guarantee in revenue is essential. This minimum guarantee is in proportion to the num’•er of consumers to the supply. Consumers.—During the month 24 applications have been received for supply, making the total number to date ® Since last meeting 26 new consun - ers have been linked to the supply making the total number of consumers con nected to date 696. The meters purchased from New Zealand stocks are being nstallo l in consumers’ premises as ra pidl yas possible, and the new consign nient of meters on order is ex pecten* to arrive shortly. The connected load to date is as follows:—Motors 1267 h.p.; heating and irons 277 k.w.; water heat ers 8 k.w.: ranges 15 k.w.; lighting 300 k.w. Minimum Guarantees.—ln connection with supply to the outlying districts, the costs have been taken out with regard to the minimum guarantee required for connecting the various dwellings. It is found in nearly every instance that should the whole of the residents in the various districts take supply, that the minimum guarantee required will not exceed 4/- ]>er month. The num her of consumers in the different districts varies considerably and if the Board gets wholehearted support in \ ery few instances will it be found necessary to increase this minimum charge. It is not generally known that where a minimum of this kind is required, that the consumers have the option of using energy up this amount, ami thereby not paying for something they do not receive. The following districts have been investigated and the costs taken out for the low tension reticulation.—Camerons, Gladstone, Paroa, Rutherglen, Marsden. Coal Creek Flat, Kaiata, Stillwater and Ngahere. In each instance, the minimum guarantees which would he required from the various consumers are directly effected by the greater or smaller number connected to the supply. For example, Camerons. Gladstone, Paroa ami Rutherglen would come within the ordinary minimum or 4/-, provided all the residents take supply. Should, however, only half the possible number of consumers take supply in each of the above districts then the minimum guarantee would be »/-•