PUBLIC MEETING DISCUSSES POWER AND WATER SCHEMES

Taupo Times, Volume IV, Issue 200, 25 November 1955, Page 4

PUBLIC MEETING DISCUSSES POWER AND WATER SCHEMES

u Second Hydro-Electric Station m 1 *'11 Unanimously Approved m There was an attendance of some 120 citizens in the Wa|l Memorial Hall on Thursday evening, November 17, at a publ||l meeting called by His Worship the Mayor, Mr J. E. Story, fortl^ dual purpose of placing before the public the Borough Counci|||i proposals with regard to the projected water supply scheme, aijffl of explaining the Council's proposal to raise a loan of £105, Mfe for the construction of a second hydro-electric power station oltl the Hinemaiaia River at Hatepe. The meeting passed a resolution favouring the financii^^ of the water scheme by means of a special rate of 2|d in the £ | (unimproved value) plus a meter charge of 2/- per 1000 gallo^J (domestic rate). A resolution expressing confidence in the CoupS cil's power scheme proposal and urging its prosecution withc^fl delay was passed unanimously and with applause.

In opening the. meeting the Mayor, who was accompanied by Mr Lloyd Mandeno, the Council's consulting engineer, referred to the public meeting held in the Hall on February 1, which had approved the Council's plan to raise a loan of £110,000 for a water loan. At that meeting the opinion had been expressed that the rninimum size of mains sliould be four inch, not two inch, and later the Oouncil had adopted four inch as the .minimum, at an extra cost of £20,000, making the loan £130,000. The present meeting was for the purpose of explaining details of . both the water scheme, the loan for which had already been approved by tbe Loans Board, and of the proposed loan of £105,000 for extensions to tlie power supply scheme. Mr Mandeno and he would do their best to answer any enquiries made. Charges for Water The details of Ihe water scheme itself had been explained at the previous meeting, and what he now wished to go into was the method of charging for the water. It would be necessary to provide a sum of £11,000 per annuni to meet the costs of the water supply, and the Council had two methods of doing tliis before them, oue involving raising the full annual amount required by way of rates only, and the other involving the levying of a rate and in addition the imposition of a meter charge for water used by consumers. Under the rate plus metering proposal, there would be a special rate of 2^d in the £ on the unimproved value on all rateable property in the Borough, plus a meter charge of 2s per 1000 gallons for dimestic supply and of 2s 6d per 1000 gallons for commercial supply. Under the other proposal, there would be the special rate of 2|d plus a water rate of 2d in the £ (unimproved value) and in addition a charge of £1 per annum for hose conneetions. Under this second proposal properties not connected with the water supply, but within 100 yards of the water supply system, would pay half only of the water rate, plus the special rate. The Mayor then asked for comments or questions in connection with the two methods, the one of rating plus metering charges, the other of rating only. Questions Answered Mr L. M. Ward commented that rating on the unimproved value seemed unfair, as a family with more % members would use more water than a smaller household but would pay the same as a family using less. Mr J. W. Birnie asked how the ^11,000 annual cost was made up. The Mavor stated that capital charges totalled approximately £9000, ma.iutenance and administration £1500 and power costs for pumping £500. A questioner asked how it was proposed to iind out what the ratepayers wanted? The meeting itself was not a representative one. The Mayor replied that the decision as to the

' method to be adopted would have: W be made by the council, but tbm| would be interested to hear the yiewM of those present Mr Sam Williams asked whai! would be paid by an absentee owne*^ under the meter system? Mr StOljJ replied that he would pay the spedffl rate. Mr W. Anderson asked wll||| would be the cost of meters. He' -wM derstood that boroughs in the had abandoned meters. Would we bfcl better off with meters? Mr Story stated that half-ixk3 meters cost a'bout £5 10s and Mjl9 inch about £8. The cost of the meftJ was a charge on the property oynicp.1 Mr C. 11. Watson favoured metepS which meant that the Council got paid for what it deliverete (Laughter). Mr W. G. Morris s&tei| that he understood that places throl had thrown meters out had done on account of impurities in the wateH forining deposits, but Taupo wouM not liave that trouble with the Lakg Meters a Foliey Matter 4B Answering a query by Mr J. WM Birnie, Mr Mandeno saicl that the 2^ Gd per 1.000 gallons for commercla|| users was an average charge. Suhur?| ban boroughs in Auckland char^l about that. Frequently a slid^S scale was used, big users getting fti lower rate. He dicl not think a lowfgjl rate t.han 2s 6d would be possible^B Meters required more mamtenapp than electricity meters.. ExperieQM in the Auckland area proved the val^| of meters in ensuring economy. Th^H was not much point in meters in tral first few years, but later tliey woi|^ liave to consider the load on th|| mains. Meters had the advantage 0® quickly disclosing leaks, which,® porous soil often did not show on fh|| surface. Taupo had the advantage of hei^ able to start with the experience otj other towns. He agreed that the ms|| .jority of provincial towns did have meters, but he was *sure that| most of them wished they had. However, whether meters should.iMr y should not be used was entirety M matter of policy for the Council toij decide. Other questions answered by Mayor were that under the system a vacant section would pa|| the special rate only ; the Council wasl not allowed by law to reticulafe water outside the Borough, but conlai sell water from a point on the Bofcg ough boundary ; the water sehem$| covered all present subdivisions in tbol Borough except Peperell's subdivisionf and the top end of Taharepa Road;| as population density* increased al)| areas in the Borough would be rettci ulated ; under the meter plus rate syfid tem owners who had bores and did/ "j not want supply water would pay the; special rate only. Mr Sam Williams stated that he thought the feel-ing of the meetings favoured the meter plus rate system, and he nmved rlnit meters should be

installed. Mr L. M. Ward seconded the motion, which was carried with one dissentient. Power Scheme Loan Referring to the Couneil's application to the Local Government Loans Board for sanction for a loan of £105,000, the Mayor recalled that critics had belittled the estimate of 400 consumers made in the period when the electric power scheme was first being discussed. But the growth of the district .had been such that there were now over 1200 consumers, and the Council realised it was its duty to do something liow to obviate shortage of power in the next two years or so. The reason for developing power at the lower site now was that in odd dry years they could not rely on being able to run at full capacity another unit at the present site. At the lower site they could use all the water in the proposed new unit. Mr Story said he still thought they would instal another unit at the present site at a later period, but that what was needed now was a power unit which could be run to the, full capacity of the whole stream. Miss Branson asked whether it would not be possible to get enough ; power from another unit at the pre- • sent site by raising the barrage there [and thus impounding more water. I Mr Mandeno said that the sugges- : tion could not get them out of the pre- | sent problem. Additional storage would t be needed for a couple of months at lleast, and would require a lake holding |a hundred times the volume available I in the present one. It was not feasible | to raise the dam as much as that. I Storage capacity at present enabled [Storage at weekends, and at nights, land was valuable for that purpose. Power Sold Outside Borough I Answering a question as to how | much power was sold outside the | Borough, Mr Mandeno stated that over gninety per cent. of the power was being lused within the Borough. Or K. E. iYoung said 1 hat il should be nolod that j the sale of power outside the Borough i was necessary under the Borough's liicence. As a supply authority it: was iunder an obligation to supply power Iwithin its firea. Further, the protit Imade on the sale of power to outsiders fwas a definite benefit to Borough rateipayers. I: Mr J. W. Birnie at this stage handed ■ to the Mayor a list of nineteen quesI tions, submitted for answer at the jmeeting by the following ratepayers ■Messrs J. W. Birnie, P. Ford, A. A. BWallace, W. F. Rimrner, A. J. Perry, ■& J. Perry, L. M. Ward, It. Sinclair, ■6. Barlow, J. G. Miles, A. C. Kellett, K&Iiss A. G. Wehringo, Messrs A. C. ■Lees, B. H. Turton, Gordon S. Fraser, §L. A. Edlin, Iv. A. .Tohnson. m Mr Story said that the first quesBtion asked for the tofnl capital figures ■expended to date on the power scheme land claimed that the electricity figures f had not been published. Mr Sfory said II the fignres had l)een publishod. Ilow■ever, the tofal was £180,000 from loan Ifmoney. A house for staff had been ■bought out of revenue. K Mr Story said there were several ■questions relating to the amount paid Ko the consulting engineer, Mr Man■fleno. Mr Mandeno was paid as a con■lulting engineer on the same scale as Bother consultants and as paid to confcultants by the Ministry of Works. He ■had done a good job. Any ratepayer ■wishing to have the information had ■only to ask him (the Mayor), but did ■they think it a fair thing to ask for deRtails at a public meeting? (Cries of RNo" from audience). B Mr Birnie said it was public money. Kfhe Mayor said that that was so, and Khat he would give the details to any Hratepayer who asked him for them. B Questions Answered I A question as to whv the Council did ■hot concentrate on the Borough area ■and immediate vicinity and get the Kjnpply cost down as in the case of ■Tauranga to .7 of a penny per unit ■ftas referred by the Mayor to Mr ManBeno, who stated that a better exEmple, than Tauranga would be hard Ko find, as Tauranga had pioneered ■Ihe sale of power outside its area by ■jroing out into the countv with power.

areas to which the Borough was committed to sell power, mcluding Maroa, where Ihe T.T.T. Co. was linding £8,000 for the transmission line, and Hatepe, wliere 51) suppliers were guaranteeing the supply. Mr Sarn Williams said that time was getting on and they did not want to be too late. He thought the Council were doing a good job and the more power they sold the better. He moved that the Council go ahead with the proposed scheme and get on with the job. (Applause). The Mayor thanked Mr Williams for liis motion of confidence but said there were a number of questions yet: to answer. In regard to these, Mr Mandeno said he could not say how many poles and miles of wire would be required for outside reticulatiou, as asked, nor wliat the income would be, but he could assure them that the income would be satisfactory. Regarding whether all poles in use had been properly treated to prevent decay, the answer was yes, except that liardwood poles had not been treated as treatment of hardwood was not possible nor necessary. Mr Mandeno gave details asked for with regard to the site for the proposed new dam. It had been investigated by Government geologists and there was every reason to believe it would be approved by the Ministry of Works engineers. The present power site had been given preference in the first place over the lower site now to be used owing to having a higher head of water. The proposed dam would be on rock, not pumice. A question as to whether the consulting engineer had authority to dispose of surplus plant was answered by the Mayor in the aflirmative. He said he could not recall any plant sold, liowever, except the plant used for the treatment of the Oregon power poles, and that had been sold to Mr Birnie ( laughter). Mr Birnie mentioncd 1 ha I Ihe qneslions suhmillcd weiv nol ne*cssarily lo hc takou as liis, hui had been given to him lo forward. Mr Mandeno stated that the power systein with the new power station built would generate soine nine million units. With an additional generator at the present top site, instead of the present proposal, the total would be some tliree million units. rFlie proposed extension of the power systein would cost twice as much approximately as adding a generator at the top site, but would result in tliree times the power being produced. Expression Of Confidence The Mayor said that the ereetion of street lights in the Borough had been delayed on account of pressure of reticulatiou work, but was now undcr consideration. Beductions in power eharges would- be considered at the end of the tinancial year. Mr C. O. Sominerville said that earicr in Ihe meeling a motion had heen proposed that the Council shonld go ahead with the proposed scheme and he would like to secorid that motion. He wished to thank Mr Mandeno and the Mayor for tlie patient way in which they had answered the questions put to them. He thought the people were satisfied that the scheme was on a sound basis, and bad pleasure in seconding the motion (applause). The Mayor thanked the meeting for their expression of confidence in the Council's proposal, and said that the CounciTs only aim was to produce the best scheme possible. for the welfare of the Borough. He then declared the meeting closed.