MODEST BEGINNING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 678, 1 June 1929, Page 17 (Supplement)

MODEST BEGINNING

History of City’s Big Undertaking

REMARKABLE PROGRESS

r Twenty years ago electricity in > Auckland was a luxury. Today it is in common use in 46.000 homes and establishments in and around the city. rpHE growth of electricity in. Auck- : land was steady, but not rapid, and for the first few years of Its or-; ganised operation consumption crept rather than jumped up. In fact Auckland was one of the slowest to leave the mark as far as power is con cerned. These facts, which are now ancient history, emphasise more clearly the remarkable progress which has been recorded during the past decade—a decade which, in this city, might be correctly termed the electrical age. SMALL BEGINNINGS From small beginnings great things grow. No greater proof of this is needed than the history of the development of electric power in the City of Auckland and the history of the Auckland Electric-Power Board. The supply undertaking in Auckland first came under public notice in 1906, when a report dealing with the prospects of commencing an electrical supply for the city was presented to the City Council by Mr. Goodman, of Adelaide. As a result of this report the council, in 1907, resolved to commence a supply, and the new undertaking was oflicially opened and brought into operation on February 10, 1908. The station was located in Freeman’s Bay on the destructor site, and was run in conjunction with that department. The plant consisted of two steam generators each of 300 h.p. capacity, supplied with steam from two boilers, one erected especially for the purpose and the other boiler al-

ready existing in connection with til destructor.

At the date of the opening mains i had been laid in about a dozen of the principal streets in the city, and ap- i plications had been received totalling; j 105, of which 12 were actually con- j nected to the mains. Electrical development in those days was naturally dependent upon the size of the station, which was-very limited. The demand gradually increased and the reticulation was extended throughout the main streets of the city. NEW STATION BUILT It soon became apparent that the site was an unsuitable one. The sta.tion was very cramped and, furthermore, did not admit of extension, and m 1909, as a result of a report from the city electrical engineer, the council decided to build a complete new station on the waterfront next to King’s Wharf. For this purpose a block of land extending from Quay Street to the waterfront was acquired under the Public Works Act and compensation was paid to several parties then in occupation. The erection of the new station was begun in 1910. Owing to the uature of the land, considerable foundation work had to be undertaken, and the new station was formally opened by the Mayor, Sir James Parr, then the Hon. C. J. Parr, on February 19, 1913, the old station being then permanently closed and a portion of the plant transferred to the new ofli.ee. From that date on the demand gradually increased. Old records show that at -the end of the year 1912 the department had only 889 consumers. In 1916 this number had grown only to 2,123, and is 1920 it had reached 4,013. From 1920 onward

the development was much more rapid. In 1915 further additions were authorised, but owing to the war the greatest difficulty was experienced in obtaining delivery of the four new machines required to equip the station, and it was not until July, 1920, that the last of these was installed and in operation. By that time the plant capacity amounted to 5,600 k.w. In February, 1920, a proposal was made by the city electrical engineer to combine both the electricity supply

station and the tramway power station, and to generate and supply the whole of the electrical requirements for the city and suburbs from the King’s Wharf station This meant the shutting down of the tramway power-house as a generating station. This proposal was given effect to by the City Council, and three large

units were authorised to be added to the station. In 1921 the engineer visited England in connection with these extensions, and during his vi>orders were placed for the additional machinery required. In the meantime, preparation of the extended building was in hand, and the first of the uew machines was put into commission on October 18, 1922. Meanwhile the other machines had come forward and were erected, the last of these being taken over on December 10. 1923.

POWER BOARD FORMED It was early in 1921 that a proposal to amalgamate the city and surrounding local bodies into one power board to control the metropolitan area was mooted. At this time a committee known as the EdenManukau Electrification Committee with Mr. J. Park as chairman had in hand a scheme for the supply of electricity for the Eden-Manukan districts. This scheme was merged into the larger scheme, and on August 8, 1921, an agreement was entered into between the Auckland City Council and 14 other local bodies, whereby it was agreed to form a power board and to purchase the existing undertaking of the Auckland City Council. The Auckland ElectricPower Board Act, 1921-22, was eventually passed, the date of the transfer being June 30, 1921. The first election of the 12 members of the newly-constituted board was held on February 26, 1922, and the board took office on April 1 of that year, Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, the present holder of the office, being elected chairman. lu connection with the formation of the board, special reference must be made to the very able manner in which the negotiations were handled, and the tremendous amount of time and labour given to the details of the scheme by the then Mayor, Sir James Gunson, with whom was associated

Mr. J. Park, chairman of the EdenManukau Electrification Committee. The first business of the board was an agreement executed with the Government for a supply of electricty for | the city from the proposed Arapuni ; hydro-electric works on the Waikato | River, and negotiations were also completed with the City Council whereby the undertaking was purchased at hook value as at June 30, 1921, for the sum of £564,695. RAPID PROGRESS The dimensions of the organisation are now immense. In seven years

its revenue has risen from £139,000 to well over half a million sterling, and work is given to 570 Aucklanders, as against 177 in its employ when the council gave up the scheme. The wages bill of the board gives an indication of the double-barrelled benefit which the workers; in Auckland derive. In addition to the supply of power and light at low cost, the institution sends £143,000 into homes in the district in earnings. 'the march of electricity is reflected in the tremendous rise in the number of units which the board now generates, compared with its modest output a few years ago. All over the suburbs the supply is going into houses and factories, and the supply is now reaching approximately the 81,000,000 unit mark. The board has encouraged the demand for this power by abolishing, last year, the 10 per cent, load charge upon sparsely populated suburbs where installation and the load cossts are high. In the city, also, every effort has naen made to give the consumer the benefit of reduced production costs. During last year the commercial lighting rates were brought down by 221 per cent., and a provisional discount of 5 per cent, was allowed upon all accounts. Altogether the concessions granted to the public in the past 12 months totalled in round figures abcut £25,000. The Power Board, after seven years in charge of the Auckland supply, is not only able to look back upon a period crowned with singularly successful financial Tesults, hut it may justifiably claim to have taken a notable step toward the ultimate provision of cheap power for all classes of uie people.