HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Shannon News, 19 February 1924, Page 3

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

THE COST OF INSTALLATION^ LOCAL COMPLAINTS. i res hlents oi Shannon in 2 installation gi oups have been comparing accounts ami endeavouring to work out how much per point their installations have cost. Sonne have even made complaint that they have been charged more than someone else lor the same number of points. A Shannon News representative submitted these statements to. Mr Goldsmith, secretary ol the Board, and was given some interesting information re the carrying out of the contr&ct for both these groups. In one instance the average cost per point works out at 32s 6d and in the other at 325. This is the charge in nearly every instance but in some cases whefb architectural difficulty was encountered arid the installation entailed extra work the price per point was slightly higher, but in no case did this cost exceed 34s per point. What some consumers were doing was taking the total cost with extras and dividing the total by the actual' number of lights installed. This is by no means fair when making a comparison. Take for instance one resident who- had a four-roomed house with one. light in each room with no extras. She compared her bill of £6 16s 6d with her neighbour who also had a hous'e of four rooms but whose bill amounted to; £ll 2s Bd. In the second instance thei;e were two extra switches a.t 15s each, a hot point at 37s 6d, a bracket at 3s. and a fancy shade at ss. In each instance there was 5 per cent, for supervising fee,. This item too is not understood by many. Tins 5 per cent, is a, contribution to the cost of the initial canvass, advertising for tenders, accepting contract, and supervising the,, installation, and issuing a certificate that the work has been carried out in a manner satisfactory to the board. Anyone who docs not understand how their account is made up should at once communicate with the secretary of the board instead of making unsatisfactory comparisons with their neighbours.