POWER CHARGES.

Shannon News, 19 September 1924, Page 3

POWER CHARGES.

METER RENT AND MINIMUM RATE. At this week’s meeting of the Hp.rownenua Power Board, Mr Seifeart said he had been told by some at the Shannon • consumers that they had to. pay a minimum cnorge, a meter-rent, and a cihai’ge for the electricity used, as well, if this wei'q sq it seemed a rather unlair way oi doing things. The meter charge was unusual, ae understood.

The Engineer stated that there was no minimum charge when the electricity used exceeded the minimum. Where it was below that amount the minimum charge was made. Regarding meter rent, this was a fixed charge to meet the first charges on the money expended, and represented a substantial part of the revenue of the Board. The same service* oost was entailed in the case oi a small consumer, a church or a hall, as for. a .targe lighting installation, whilst the awanue {returned lif the minimum charges were done- away with would only he a few pence as compared with pounds in the case of the large consumers.

CHARGES FOR CHURCH LIGHTING. Mr Gunning said, that the meterrent charge pressed heavily on small consumers. Another matter was the charge made to : churches, and hails which • were only occasionally used. .The matter might be got over by making an annual minimum charge on a rather higher basis than the average. In the church to which he belonged the usual consumption was 2£ units, with meter-rent 10d. The minimum charge was 5s for electricity ohd it seemed a high charge to pay 5s lOd for 2£ units. It had also been suggested that where in the summer people used very little electricity and in the winter more, the consumption might be averaged over the period. ' It seemed that the small consumer might be considered if possible.

The chairman said that the instance of church fights was a good one. The difficulty might be got over by charging a flat rate, and the meter might be done away with. Tire Engineer said that in Dunedin the flat rate was 44 per unit without a minimum guarantee. The charge per unit wlas higher than, for ordinary consumptive, It was decided to hold thie matter of the churches over for a month for consideration.