POWER BOARD REVENUE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5385, 8 February 1929, Page 2

POWER BOARD REVENUE

o QUESTION OF POWER CHARGES. DISCUSSION BY BOARD. At the Thamep Valley Electric Power Board’s meeting on Tuesday, after, the manager ha,d read his report,' several questions vve;re asked concerning power charges. The chairman announced that the ratio of revenue to the cost of. bulk supply fr.am the; Public Works Depa.rfment had been slipping back instead of improving. In 1925 the board’s load showed .high,peaks ami. (leep valleys. Since thc;n the valleys had been filling up, and this should have given the board better results, instead of which they had been going, back.

The engineer stated that t'he revenue from the sale of. power compared with the increased cost had not bepn as expected since 1926. With the valleys flllql up the revenue should have increased, but it had not done so in proportion to the increase in 'the cost of power. They had, as the chairman had re;marl<ed, gone back. The meter consumer had been paying more than the flat-rate consumer, who was using 14% per cent, more; eIeCA tric,ity than when he presented his last report on the subject.

The estimated that, the board had lost about £l5OO a year through not supplying, the Dairy C®’. It was anticipated .when the' agreement was made that the; boarjd would be able to supply the dairy companies throughout the year. Even whe;n linked to Arapuni they would not get the revenue the ( y had originally expected to receive.

Th;e engineer said they would 1 have received 50 per ce/it. more revenue from the Dairy Co. had a full supply of power been available to the board. The agreement with the; company was quite satisfactory. The f actories only paid for what they but. the cost of the; line put in to seme the company had to be considered, the board having to meet the capital c.ost. The chairman intimated that it was time to,consider the queston of installing mejters and doing away with the flat rate. He moved 1 that the matter of. revision of charges be referred to the finance committee for a report at the next meeting, Mr Pohlen thought, the engineer’s indicated clearly that the boar ( d would have to revise its, charges. The meter system, under .which a consumer paid for what hq actually got, was the better of the two. systems. It was decided' to leave the matter tq the .finance committee, to enable it to prepare a repor,t and make recommendations as to the revision of charges to be brought before the next meeting. COST OF ADMINISTRATION. Mr Flatt considered; it. important to have a report on the cause qf the increased qost ptf administration.. The manager replied to the effect that the increase was £7OO, ajidi was due to transfer from loans to the general account of charges inseparable from the working of the officeThe lines were finished, and therefore maintenance was naturally greater. Mr. Flatt asked if it would ba necessary, if the loan wfiirk was all finished, to maintain the same engineering staff. The chairman answered that the whole matter had been gone into at the last meeting. Upon Mr Thomas suggesting, that everything should be reviewed to see if it was possible tq reduce expenses, ■Mr, Arthur said that the matter had been gone into thoroughly only a months ago, to which Mr strange added that they could not be going into the thinjj every few months. Members must trust the executive.