DAIRY FACTORY POWER.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5270, 4 May 1928, Page 4

DAIRY FACTORY POWER.

THREE-PARTY AGREEMENT.

RESULT OF CONFERENCE.

'At Tuesday’s meeting of the Thames Valley. Electric Power Board a report was presented' on. the conference held at Wellington. between the Power; Board, the N.Z. Co-operative Dairy Co., and the Public Works Department i,n regard to the supply of power to dairy companies.

“It was agreed,” the report stated, “that the old thr, eei-party agreements should be amended, as. follows :— “(1) The dairy company will arrange to run its plant as required by the district eleefa-icdl engineer of the Public Works Department on condition that the department subsidises it to the extent of ,22d per unit for units used in their own factories, and, if metered, by their own plant, and the department will then subsidise Id pejr unit for, aill ulrits supplied, by them into the system outside their own factories.

“(2) When required by the department to supply power, the factories £\hali be called upon, in /the following order : Waitoa, Waiiarpa, and Te Awamutu.

“(3) The periods of running the company’s pliants shotUld not be continuous except in emergency, and should be arranged as far as possible to fit in with their ordinary operations.

“(4) Except in emergency, the period of running shall be limited to six hours a day.

“(5’ ‘Emergency’ should include trouble with any pf the department’s, •generating plants or shortage ot winter in. the Waikato River, at Horahora.

“(6) In the event of any trouble with any of the company’s generating plants,' the department will do its best to assist them by supplying power from the Waikato system.

“(7) The rates of payment for power supplied' to the' company from thet department should be cm a sliding scale ranging from Id per unit to 4d a unit, as in the previous agreement.

“(8) The Power Board shall install apparatus to continuously register the demanid* taken by the, respective factories in order to determine the amount by which, the factory lead increases. the board’s peak load. This latter amount is to be subtracted from the combined load at each particular point, and the maximum difference is to be the amount for which the board is. to pay standard rates. “(9) The revenue? from the factory is to be divided equally between the 'department and the board. “(10) The agreement is to apply to factories included under the agreement.

“(11) With regard to power at Paeroa and Ngatea, where the power, is not supplied from an electrical generator, the' amount of power used is. to be assessed by checking the consumption of the factory when operating with the gas or. steam ejngines as compared with the operations under bulk supply. The amount of power used in such a case is to be agreed, upon by Messrs Kepple and McLennan, with the assistance of Mr McLeod, if necessary. Finally, in respect to the Te Ar.oha West factory, the amount is to be assessed .by Messrs Faulkner and McLennan, with' Mr McLeod if necessary.

“One very vita?, point was. cleaned up, nomeily, whether, the board can purchase the futl 24. hours in the usuall manner, or.would only be allowed.' to give supply to'such loads as the department det'Crniins. In effect, would the board) be, prohibited from obtaining a payable load factor. Mr Kisfeel was quite definite in stating that the department had no right to determine how the board should arrange? its load within the-limits of its demand. Since returning from Wellington Mr McLennan had notified the Dairy Company that they must continue taking tlleir load, as'the condU tions of cla,use 5 of the, draft agreement is nb'.v operating. Mr Kepple, engineer to; the company, met the chairman and manager on,the 24th, and after full discussion thp following telegram was sent to Mr Kissel: ‘We are anxious to commence operations of electric power as recently ar ’ ranged 'in' Wellington, but your local office says, position continues under which we rjun plants full time. Please advise when change can be made, as apparently; some misapprehension this end.’

“The manager; of the Auckland Power .Board, on being i interviewed by Mr McLead, had' stated that his board would’ be onlly too pleased to give any assistance it could, and one of ilUs new 22,000-volt cables between penrose and King’s Wharf had been tested out, and it was expected to try it on load on April 29. The other three cables should be ready by May 5, and each cable was suitable for dealing with 10,0001i.w. The Deis.ol plant at Penr rose was well advanced,' and it was expected to test one of tire sets within twb or three weeks, and there seemed to be no reason to doubt that tiie plant would be in operation by tne beginning of June. ' Mr Kissel had .stated that if there was any power to’-spare the dairy! factories. could bet gi.yen supply, but the dairy companies hjud since been notified by Mr McLennan that there is no power to spare, for them at any hour of the day or,, might, but that they must take their own load.” It was. pointed out by Mr Flatt that previously the board had made a profit of nearly 25 per cent. A new agreement had been ’ arrived at ami he did nbt agree with it. Too much power , was given, the Public Works engineer, at Hamilton, who would be in <t position to ®ay that the boar,d could not have any diversity. The whdle of the arrangements were between the) Dairy Company and the Public Works Department. It was not fair that the department should have the right to decide what wtfs. an. emergency.. So far as he could sec. the new arrangemicnt was not as ad-f vantageous as fi'he previpus one because the board lost its diversity factor.

The chairman: (Mr F. M. Strange) said that it had been a difficullt mat** ter to arrive at >a suitable three-party agreement until, such time as Arapuiii was in operation. The matter, had

beein fully discussed, and the arrange-' •ments arrived 1 at were considered the best possible under, the existing circumstances.

It ,was contended by Mr. H. M. Corbett that the engineer at Hamilton would have to answer to his department when a case of emergency arose-

Mr Flatt said it appeared that if the Auckland board wanted power it would obtain it before the Thames Valley board'. Mr McLeod (engineer) said' that the Auckland board was agreeable and willing to work in with the Thames Valley board.

I)n the opinion of Mr Flatt the emergency clause was a ve.ry weak

The chairman reiterated that the arrangements made were the most satisfactory that could 1 be arrived at. The conference had occupied the greater part of two days, and he thought that the report should be adopted.

Some discussion followed as to what could be termed an emergency.

The chairman said that the chief causes for the exercising of the emergency clause were shortage of water in the Waikato River and 1 a serious breakdown. He failed to see how the report! could be turned down. Mr J. B. Thomas pointed out that the delegates to the, conference had been appointed! with power to act. They had acted, and the report should be, adopted. Mr Flatt said that he appreciated the work done by the delegates;, bu 3 at the same time he did not agree that the department’s electrical engineer at Hamilton should rufle as to what constituted an emergency.

Finally the report was adopted, Mr. Flatt recording his vote against the inofloh.

It was then moved by Mr J. Price that the interpretation of the emergency clause be 'left in the hands, of the chairman, engineer, and manager. Seconded by Mr G. Howie and car* ried.

The chairman said thah the, Hamilton engineer had been quite fair in all his dealings; yet, at the same t’me, the emergency clause ga.ve him vej-y wide .powers. It was resolved to table a further report at the next meeting.