THE COST OF POWER

Otaki Mail, 22 May 1922, Page 1

THE COST OF POWER

>• ELECTRICAL ENGINEER’S \ (l | * Alter the meeting oi the He, i nua Electric Power hoard on Tv , * the Engineer, Mr 'l. R. Oveno. t-, i» dressed the Hoard on several at j 01 the new motive force which Aheen made possible by cheap power. Marty people, he said, would talii about me power not ucmg cheap. They were to get tt at £lO per horse- , power right wnere mey u lot a possible ~-i hours a day on era days a ,>ear. What cheaper iorm ot power \\a ; provided than tlial. ine Objective to be aimed at was a good ioad laetor. They had to strive v use the power as many hours out or tiie 24 as possible, and it was wise to encourage that by selling the power at lower and mote attracune rates : during the hours when the demand fon tiie supply was lighter, it would ‘be lounu, m that case, that hydroelectric power would displace all cmer systems oi hgming anu power. The \ charges made were tiuile auequuie lor the main blanch hues anu low Un j smn lines up m me consumer's boon- 1 dary. 'i'lie consumer had to pay mr the lines necessary lhsiae ins noun- i dary. These payments could be made straight out or spread over a period 1 of y ears, say five. The cost oi lire j service lines was from £2 10/ to £U a chain* That was the first expense \ the consumer was put to in taking I electric power. The next expense J was tiie installation of the motor or [ ligbling facilities. Air Overtoil quoted I | me following actual figures as m the

!cost oPthis. A sih.p. motor tor milking purposes, displacing a petrol engine, j cost £'4'J. A 31i.p. motor and nne J lights cost £'6o. A 2h.p. motor, .vim j I countersliait, pulleys. belting aim ] shalung, a light in the cow-shed anu five lights and an electric iron m the house cost £66. Coming to the installations purely for lighting i imposes, these could be estimated at £2 J per point. That was the average they had been, getting around Hamilton. It was no use doing shoddy jobs or letting contractors do them, because they only came back on the consumer is about two years' time, lie hud known jobs cost three times as much as they should cost through having to be renewed within live years. A lot oi country people were anxious 10 know what it was going to cost lor milking. Already this could ry uad been saved £OO6O a year in petrol by electric power, and that money was kept circulating here instead of going to a country where the pound lime had only been worth 13/ until recently. Electric power was cheaper than petrol, though there might be isolated c ases ol' a very elllcieut engine used to milk, say. 20 cows, where petrol compared wed with electric power. Mi Overton then quoted some actual figures oi cost. Milking, say, uU cows in tlie flu-It oi the season would cost 1,0 per day with electric power. In another cuoe lighting and power to milk 100 cows was costing f Hi per day, Heply ng to questions, the Engineer said electric power was quite satisfactory for dairy factories, and was used by them to advantage. It could be utilised for’ heu'ing watefv The Board's revenue Hum sale of power could be collected lor it by the various local -bodies for 2J per cent commission, which obviated the opening oi offices throughout tlie district. The chairman said it seemed obvious tlial tlie oil companies would make a light- by reducing their charges lo have petrol engines retained. I Mr Seifert said they w ould bring j tlie oil in tanks and store it in bulk. The Engineer explained that where possible a dozen farms couid be grouped for their own reticulation, and the money advanced with repayments spread over three years. The chairman said it seemed to him that, in times like these, it would be ' necessary to give people some resistance in putting ip, the power by udaiming them the money. They would have to keep that in view when their loan was being raised. As the money was repaid by the consumers it couid be used to extend the reticulation.