YEAR’S ELECTRICAL PROGRESS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3644, 28 May 1927, Page 3

YEAR’S ELECTRICAL PROGRESS.

BOARD HAS 2500 CONSUMERS. NEARLY FIVE MILLION UNITS SOLD. The annual report of Mr. J. A. Smith, A.M.1.E.E., Electrical Engineer to the Horowhenua Power Board, gives some idea of the advance of the undertaking during the year. The report is' as follows : LINE CONSTRUCTION. • During the year steady progress has been made in the construction, of the Board’s lines. The following c.h.t. together with the necessary l.t. lines, have been completed:— Queen Street East extension, Kawiu Road West, Potts’ Road, Wallace Road, Dalziell’s mill extension, Makerua, Paiaka mill line, completion Levin-Foxton line, County crusher line, dlautere, Rahui Valley and Manakau South lines. The following schedule gives a summary of the line construction during the year with the total length in miles and chains to date: — Route miles, 3-wire. m. eh. in. ch. Extra high tension 7 35 193 78 Low tension 25 19(i 32 Street lighting series 1 40 47 50 Parallel 28 7 03 Service lines 15 11 85 18 Number of. — Service lines 425 2606 Street lamps series 7 255 Street lamps parallel 9 68 DEVELOPMENT OF LOAD. The load on the system has developed steadily, 388 new consumers'have been connected, bringing the total of 2584; 243 extensions to existing installations have, been connected; 50 industrial motors aggregating 369 h.p. and 99 milking and separating motors have been installed during the year; 95 ranges, making a total of 247, equivalent to one to every 10.46 consumers and 154 water-heaters, making a total of 460, equivalent to one to every 5.6 consumers. The total connected load including street lighting amounts to 6625 k.w., an increase of 1734 k.w. during the year. SUMMARY OF LOAD. Following are the connections made during the year and the to-., tal:— 1926-27 Total. Industrial motors 50 200 Horse-power 368 2349 Milking motors 99 322 Ranges 95 247 Water-heaters 154 460 Consumers 388 2584 Lighting k.w. 143 900 Street lighting k.w. Total k.w. 1734 6623 The following figures show to what extent these added connections have effected the maximum demand from the Mangahao power house and the number of units sold : Actual k.w. k.v.a. Maximum demand 1926 Maximum demand 1927 1668 1922 The units sold during the year were 4,820,819, an increase of 1,797,718 from the previous year. CONCLUSION. I wish to thank the chairman and members of the Board for the consideration they have always shown to the engineering staff and men working thereunder, and personally express my appreciation of the. loyal and willing service rendered by the officers and men directly under me. I am pleased to be able to report that no serious accidents disabling men for more than a week or two, have happened during • the past yea*. The chairman said, jMir. (Smith should be thanked for his , report The figures were enlightening and the progress shown steady. The chairman said the dairy farmers were gradually coming on to the Board’s system. They realised that they were not going to get all the milking load immediately, as many people hesitated about scrapping their engines and others had doubts about the efficiency of the electric service. They now saw that the latter was just as reliable as internal combustion engines, if not more so. He moved that the engineer be thanked for his report. Mr. Vincent seconded the motion which was carried.