HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD

Shannon News, 21 January 1927, Page 3

HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD

JANUARY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board was held in the Municipal Chambers, Levin, on Tuesday, there being present: Messrs G. A. Monk (chairman), C. Kilsby, A. Ross, W. E. Barber, T. G. Vincent, A. Seifert, A. J. Petherick, D. W. Matheson, P. AV. Goldsmith (secretary) and J. A. Smith (engineer). j Bank Charges. The secretary had written to the Power Boards ’ Association stating thatl he was notified by the manager of the I local branch of the Bank of New Zea-1 land, that the associated banks had de- J cided to make a charge of l-Bth per ( cent on the value of coupons (issued in j connection with loans), for receiving, 1 paying and forwarding them to New! Zealand from Australia. This charge I was quite a new one and had nothingl to do with the rate of exchange, which! had to be paid in any case. Hitherto! . the banks seemed to have been satis-1 fied with the exchange as being sufii- I cient for the small service they reader- I cd their local body customers. It was j submitted by the writer that if there was to be any charge, it should not bo j on a percentage basis, but only a 3maJl fee for receiving and posting the I coupons. There were very large loans j domiciled in Sydney. I The Power Boards’ Association wrote | in reply that the secretary’s represen-{ tations’would be placed before the next! meeting of the executive committee. I The action of the secretary was con-1 firmed. j Equipment Charges. I ( In a legal opinion received from die I < Power Boards ’ Association it was I i shown that the cost of electrical equip-1 ment could be recovered as rates only! < within three years, but the statutory I 1 charge on the land could be enforced j 1 : through the Supreme Court within 20 I ] years. The three years would run H . from the time the account; was due, I 1 . this being usually the time of the first I • demand. The debt could be recovered J as a common debt within six years form I 5 the first account delivered. I 1 Secretaries’. Conference. I 1 Notification was received of the con- { 1 f Arence of power board secretaries, to j 1 be held on February 3rd at Palmerston I North. A lengthy agenda paper is to J

be submitted. ' I Permission was given to the sccre-1 tafy to attend the conference. v I The chairman said he did not know j of anything likely to do thp Boards I more good than these conferences of I .secretaries ’ and engineers. I Mr. Goldsmith extended an invita- J ' tion to any members who were so in-1 dined to visit the conference. I < Treasurer’s Report. | The treasurer in his monthly report | stated- that the accounts paid since the I last meeting amounted to £1034 14s Bd. j Accounts for payment .totalled £4804 1 6s 4d, which included £3730 due to the I Public Works Department for electric- J ity for the December quarter. The ac- J count for electricity for the two previ-1 ous quarters Of the financial year were: I June 30th, £3lll 8s; September 30th, j £3233 4s. The total for the three-quar- j ters was £10,074 12s. The estimate for the year was £13,000, so that it was I very probable that this sum would bo I exceeded. It was satisfactory, however. I to know’ that there was every probabi 1 -1 ity of a corresponding increase in re- j venue. It was hardly necessary to I point out that the consumption of elec-1 tricity was very much beyond what was I anticipated at this period of the j Board’s work. The people of the dis- J trict having realised the advantage o ,! j linking up with the Board-’s system, a I quick and ready response had been the I result. I As an indication of business during J the period since last meeting the foi- J lowdng table shows the amount of | money collected: — To last Meeting Since Electricity and meter rents 23,429 14 4: 2172 0 0 Penalties .... 87 15 2 315 2 Interest on Installations ... 463 33 66 17 0 Ranges, motors, and waterheaters .... 2629 110 224 17 4 Installations and service lines 6699 22 861 14 3 Cottage rents and sundries .. 226 11 7 15 12 0 Totals £33,535 8 4 £3344 15 9 Total since 4pril 1926, £36,880 4s Id. A number of the quarterly accounts urc included in this month’s figures, but the larger accounts have yet to come in. On the whole there has been a fair response to the various accounts. One consumer has been cut off for nonfulfilment of obligations. (■►chairman said ho noticed that the PHoard was Still .signing-on many new consumers of current for water-heaters, ranges, industrial motors, etc. Everything pointed to the revenue account being perhaps more buoyant than was expected at the beginning of the year. Nearly £26,000 had been collected for electricity and meter rents. Some of the heavy quarterly accounts had not yet been paid, and these would swell the revenue, so that the prospects were fairly bright. The electricity charge was slightly heavier for the current consumed than‘was anticipated, but the Board’s stated that the cost per unit was slightly less. This meant that, as well as buying the power, the Board was able to sell the units, which would tell the tale at the end of the year. They were now.carying the cost of installations on the revenue account. He thought the revenue would be sufficiently buoyant to carry the Board through to the end of the financial year. The motion for the adoption of the report was seconded by Mr. Mathcson, and carried. Analysis of Connected Load. j The following figures show the totals

of connected load in the Board’s district to January 12th:-

CHECK ON ELECTRIC METERS. Mr Ross stated that there were two accounts owing to the Board for electrical current which had not been rendered for some months. In one case there was a sum owing for power for milking and current for lighting, and this would be rather awkward if the same tenant was not in possession all

the time. In the second ease there had been three tenants in the house, and the question was, who was liable for the amount owing by. the two tenants who had left? Evidently no record had been kept of the meters which were sent out in these eases. The chairman said that the Board had had occasional eases in which' consumers had been overlooked--where & number of them had been connected up at the same time. The staff should be able to trace them by the fact of the meters giing out. The secretary (Mr P. W. Goldsmith) said that the difficulty arose through Iwo meter readers, one of whom thought the other had read a certain nieler, whereas he had not done so. Mr Ross: Is there not a check in some way?

The secretary: Yes, but the meter recording system has not been as good as it should have been. When they were putting on the meters in the big rush, they did not record them correctly in some cases. I think the system is on a fair footing now, so that there is no chance of anyone being missed. The chairman said he thought there was some obligation on the man who •vas taking the current to pay for it, irrespective of whether he received a bill. However, he was not seeking to absolve the officers, because the Board had to depend on them absolutely. Mr J. A.. Smith (Engineer): They cannot be missed now. The secretary added that the mistake had been made in the early days of the Board. There were omissions l on the records sent into the office. The Engineer explained the nature of a checking system he had instituted, under which full particulars of .installations came into the office and the staff knew if there was a numbered form .missing. Mr T. G. Vincent said he thought the present system was all right. The chairman remarked that the meter-reader should follow every wire going into a property. If the meterreader ’s books were made up from the inspector’s books showing the installations of meters, then, under the pres ent system, there could be no lapse. The trouble had arisen through two meter-readers- operating in one district.

Mr Ross: A record should have been kept of the numbers of meters. The Engineer: We have that. Every meter has a card in the card index system.

Lighting k.w. 872 No. Total h.p. Industrial motors 189 2310 Milking motors 328 495 Heating and iron points 2339 1670 Ranges . 233 1458 Water-heaters .... 447 286 * Connected Applns. Consumers 2518 2532 Total connected k.w. 6148