ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 17, 7 February 1924, Page 3

ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS.

IN THAMES VALLEY. I I The Proposed £150,000 Loan. For Further Reticulation, At Tuesday's meeting of . the Thames Valley Electric Power Board the engineers, Messrs. Gauvain and McLeod, submitted the following- particulars of loan proposals and various estimates of annual costs relative to the amount of work completed to December 31, 1023: “Eleven thousand volt lines. 91.7 | pr- cent, completed; 3300 volt lines, !<;• cent, completed; low-tension i 11 iv. a on hiedor.-lon pole--. 77 per jt -n; . completed. The odd eve com picked is approximately 702 out of a tola! of 916. or 76.6 per cent. The majority of heavy lines are completed, and. working on the basis of money value of the various lines, the actual percentage of work done amounts to •:.pproximately 82. “ Work to be completed.—lt will be seen that approximately 214 miles of line remain to be completed, of which over 100 miles is low tension. Our proposal is to continue with the work on the usual routes as laid out in our original report, provided these individual routes are payable. Tt will be realised that some lines already erected were never allowed for in the original estimate, but having proved payable were authorised by the board. On the other hand some of the lines which on the original canvass appeared to be payable were found unpayable on further investigation. “ Out of the total of 214 miles remaining to be completed the hoard has already authorised the completion of SO miles, leaving- 134 miles to ho done. To provide a satisfactory service to districts already served it is necessary to construct about 14' miles of lino, reducing the total to 120 miles. “ In connection with this 120 miles to bq ,done to complete the main scheme the usual procedure will be followed and the lines will be approved from time to time by the board on the result of the canvass and reco m m endat ions. “ The balance of £44,000 is required to reach the total of £514,000 as estimated for the main scheme. If any money remains over, or in other words if the actual cost is less than the estimate it will be necessary for the board to formulate a policy foz the expenditure of the money. New Loans.—lf the proposals for the authority to borrow up to £150,000 are carried it would appeal to be necessary to raise £50,000 as early as possible. This would complete the main scheme and allow a small margin, which could be utilised in a manner to be decided by the board. At tlie present time we do no.; consider it would be advisable to at tempt to lay out a sell erne for the expenditure of £150,000. The present position is not comparable with the initial stages of the hoard’s opera* tions. At the commencement it was necessary to include in the main scheme some feeder lines which were required for efficient operation but which in themselves had little prospect of becoming payable. The majority of the feeder'lines have now been completed and all new sections are now canvassed and investigated before we place our recommendations before the board. “ We consider that the method to adopt before raising- further money (additional to the £50,000 above) would be to thoroughly canvass various areas and prepare estimates of cost and revenue. It may then he found that it would not be necessary or advisable to raise a second £50,000 for some years to come owing- to the fact that settlement is not sufficiently j far advanced to warrant expenditure on these sections.”