YEAR'S ELECTRICAL PROGRESS

Shannon News, 27 May 1927, Page 4

YEAR'S ELECTRICAL PROGRESS

BOARD HAS 2500 CONSUMERS. NEARLY TIVE MILLION UNITS SOLD. Tlio animal report of Mr. J. A. Smith, A.M.1.E.E., Electrical Engineer to the iforowhenua Power Board, gives some idea of the advance of the undertaking, during the year. The report is as follows: — , , Line Construction. During the year steady progress has been made in the construction of the Board’s lines. The following e.k.t. together with the necessary l.t: lines, have been' completed: —Queen Street East extension, Kawiu Road West, Potts’ Road, Wallace Road, Dalziell’s mill extension, Makerua, Paiaka mill line, completion Levin-Poxton line, County crusher line, Hautere, Rahui Valley and Manakau South lines. The following schedule gives a summary of the line construction during the year with the total length in miles ahd chains to date: —

Street lamps parallel ... 9 68 Development of Load. * The load on the system'has developed steadily, 388 new consumers have been connected, bringing the total to 2584; 243 extensions to existing installations have been connected; 50 industrial motors aggregating 369 h.p. ( andi 99 milking and separating motors have been installed ' during • the year; 95 ranges, making a total of 247, equival-

ent to one to every 10.46 consumers and 154 water-heaters, making a total of 460, equivalent to one to every 5.6 consumers. The total connected load including street lighting amounts to 6625 k.w., an increase of 1734 k.w. during the year. Summary of Load. Following are the connections made during the yeaT and the total:—

The following figures show to what extent these added connections have - effected the maximum demand from the Mangahao power house and the number of units sold:—- ■ , Actual k.w. k.v.a Maximum demand 1926 1384 1538 Maximum demand 1927 1668 1922 The units during the year were 4,820,819, an increase of 1,797,718 from the previous year. Conclusion. I wish to thank the chairman and members of the Board for the consideration they have always shown to the engineering staff and men working thereunder,' and personally express my appreciation of the loyal and willing service rendered by the officers and men directly under me. I am pleased to be able to report that no serious accidents disabling men for more than a week or two, have happened during the past year. , The chairman said Mr. Smith should be thanked for his report. The figures were enlightening and the progress shown steady.

The chairman said the dairy farmers were gradually coming on to t;he Board’s system. They realised that they were not going to get all the milking* load immediately, as many people hesitated about scrapping their engines and others had doubts about the efficiency of the electric service. They now saw that the latter was jusit as reliable as internal combustion engines, if not more so. He moved that the engineer be thanked for his Teporf.

Mr. Vincent seconded the motion which was carried.

Route miles, 3-wire. Extra high tension .. m ch. m. eh. . 7 35 193 78 Low tension 25 196 32 Street lighting series 1 40 47 50 Parallel .. 28 1 7 63 Service lines15 11 85 18 Number of.— Service lines . 425 2606 Street lamps series, . 7 255

1926-27 Total. Industrial motors ... ...50 200 Hor,se-power .. 368 2349 Milking motors .. 99 322 Ranges — .. 95 1247 Water-heaters .. 154 460 Consumers .. 388 2584 Lighting k.w. . v..;. .... 143900 Street lighting k.w. . ... — ■- 28 Total k.w. ... 1734, 6623