MANGAHAO AND THE DROUGHT

Shannon News, 24 February 1928, Page 3

MANGAHAO AND THE DROUGHT

EFFECTS IN HOROWHENUA POWER DISTRICT.

BOARD FACES LOSS OF REVENUE

The position brought about by the water shortage at the Mangahao power station was reviewed in its vaiious aspects at the meeting of the Horowhenua Power Board in Levin on TubsOF RESTRICTIONS. The secretary (Mr. P. W. Goldsmith) stated that on January 31st, the engin-eer-in-eharge (Mr. I. R. Robinson) wrote to the Board's office pointing out that the position was becoming acute and calling for economies, and asking the Board to reduce its load by 20 per cent between 7 a.m. and 11 p:m. by .cutting off water-heaters, electric ranges where other cooking appliances existed, street lighting, and milking motors where other power was available, -also to have factories change over to night loads where possible. The secretary replied stating that, since the conference of supply authorities held in Palmerston, this Board had cut out street lighting throughout the district; that one industrial concern had changed over from a day to a night load, and that the Board was doing all it could to relieve the position until rain should set in. The secretary also communicated with all street-lighting authorities in the district, and they seemed to take the request as a matter of course. The only' local body which mentioned the financial factor was the Ilutt . County Council, which made the condition that the charge should be reduced pro rata. BOARD’S REVENUE AFFECTED. The Chairman (Mr. G. A. Monk) said that the Department must have found itself in a very serious position, not altogether brought about by the increased consumption over what, was expected, but also by the fact that even if they had had the w atci, the capacity of the plant was only 1,600,000 units a week, while the requirements were 2,400,000 units. That meant that, whether there was sufficient water or not, some of the stand-by plants must run; and this would probably be necessary until the Waikaremoana scheme was completed. This Board was very anxious that, none of the industrial concerns should cease work, which would mean throwing a good many people out of employment. It had been thought better to tackle the domestic side of rhe question, and that had been done. There was also the changing of the industrial supply from a day to a night load, and that would affect the Board’s zevenue very much. By means of the course outlined, the Board had. been able to reduce the day consumption of units considerably. A good deal of this had been done before 'the conference. The motion before the conference was for a 20 per cent reduction of the day load, and the difficulty of his Board at the time was that it had 1 1 ready reduced that almost to the limit, except, where it was possible to obtain a saving front the domestic oad. An alteration of'the motion,, however, was secured so that the T)eKirtment would inquire whether satisfactory arrangements had already been nado He understood from the Board’s Engineer (Mr. J. A. Smith) that what the Board had so far done mdt. the requirements of the Public Works Derailment. He was informed that the mtside plants were costing, besides the expense of dim/niched revenue, £BOOO a week'to run. "That meant that the Department was faced with a considerable loss; but he thought it would he found that the Boards which had had to change over from a day to a night load would be faced with a very much greater loss, in proportion. That, .natter would probably have to be dis•ussed with the Department in fixing •lie peak load for next quarter. If lie Government gave the Board the lUiTrnt for this quarter, the Board .could probably show a loss, owing to he (bought; the Department, could not give the Board sufficient to recoup that loss. This would affect, the position next year in regard to any reduction which the Board might have nade; but the Board must be satisfied :o have carried on as well as it had done.

LOYALTY OF CONSUMERS,

Mr. Seifert said there was no doubt hat this Board had made a greater reduction in the outgoing of current rhan any other Board. He believed hat it was now taking less than the pinrauteed amount in the day load. The guarantee was for 1200 h.p., and the Board’s demand had been up to 2000 h.p. It had been generally recognised by the consumers that it would not do to throw labour out of employment, - and in this matter the people had been very considerate. Speaking later, when the Treasurer’s report was under consideration, the Chairman said that the shifting of the industrial load from a day to a night rate would adversely affect the Board’s revenue'to the extent of something like 60 per cent. QUESTION OF REBATES, s Mr. Morse asked if it was the in- | tcntion of the Board to make a re- ! auction in the charges where water heaters and street lights had been cut off from the supply. The Chairman: -I should say, not if we can possibly help it. Mr. Morse: I should like to be clear on it. The Chairman: You are probably right in raising the matter. I had thought it was possibly a very good thing to foist off on to the staff to deal with. Wo shall have the man who will want his pound of flesh, and we shall have to give it to him. As far as street lighting is concerned, it is the same set of people who arc con- ' eerned. If you put it into one pocket, you will have to take it out of the other. The actual amount that would be saved to local bodies in the last l month or six weeks would be one-ninth, 3 and they got their lighting for about *,£3 15s a lamp; so the amount they

would save per lamp would not be vciy great. I think the local bodies might meet the Power Board in regard to that. We were vei*y loth to have to do this, but by cutting this lighting oft' it would not affect the industrial side in any'way. Where people have, say, a cooking range and reduce thenconsumption below the niininum or cut it off' altogether, the mininum charge should not be insisted on. We should only ask them to pay the amount foi the current used over a particular period. If they are using wood or coal in a range and the electric range is standing idle, we have no right to charge them twice. In that case an adjustment must certainly be made. As for water heaters, I suppose most of us have put them off over the hours concerned, but have not lost the use of them. They keep, hot a long time in this part of the year. The Secretary (Mr. Goldsmith) stated that many people used water heaters, and they had tried conscientiously io carry out what the Board asked them to do. There was some selfdenial involved, if a person had been used to these heaters as an all-day seivicc. The users might expect a concession. Tie was afraid that the. office had a few problems ahead of it. The Chairman: I don’t, think we can make any hard and fhst rule in this matter, but must leave it to the staff to deal with as fairly as they possibly can. . Mr. Vincent, remarked that if the domestic services had not been restricted, it would have involved a curtailment of the industrial load, which would have been a bad thing for all concerned. CHEAPENING OF SERVICES NULLIFIED. The Chairman: The most disappointing thing about- this is the heavy loss of revenue to us this quarter, which will put out of action any idea we may have had of making a reduction this year. That is the most disappointing aspect to us as Board members. As recorded in another report of the Board’s business, a resolution was passed thanking the users of electricity, particularly the llaxmillers, for the manner in which they had met the Board during the emergency.