# Municipal and Official Handbook of the City of Auckland, New Zealand/Electricity

ELECTRICITY.
The City Council first sanctioned an electric supply in the year 1903, in accordance with a report presented by Mr. W. G. T. Goodman.
It was decided to establish the works at Freeman's Bay, in order to take advantage of a certain amount of steam supplied by the Destructor.
The first proposal involved an expenditure of £21,000, and the Council applied for a loan of £25,000.
In 1907, Mr. A. Wyllie was appointed Electrical Engineer, and in February, 1908, the first supply was given from Freemans Bay.
It was soon manifest that the demand would exceed the first expectations, and it became necessary to raise a further loan of £50,000, in order to increase the area of reticulation and the capacity of the Power Station. It was also evident that the Destructor site was unsuitable for meeting the demand of the future, and that the Power Station at Freeman's Bay was altogether inadequate.
In 1909, Mr. Wyllie presented a report recommending the building of a new and much larger Power Station at King's Wharf. This scheme involved an expenditure of £225,000, and after careful consideration was adopted by the Council.
ELECTRIC POWER STATION: GENERATORS.
​A water front site of nearly four acres at King's Wharf was acquired at a cost of £33,000. This was suitably situated for obtaining supplies of coal by rail and sea, and furnished an abundant supply of circulating water.
The Power Station at King's Wharf was put into operation in February, 1913, and the Freeman's Bay works were closed down.
The system of supply recommended by Mr. Goodman was three-wire direct current, with 460 volts between the outer wires. This was retained at the King's Wharf Station, to deal with the central City area, and provision was made for adding a high tension three-phase alternating current supply at 6,600 volts to deal with the outer areas. The capacity of the first installation at King's Wharf was 3,000 kilowatts.
In 1914, contracts were entered into for adding 2,200 kilowatts of direct current and 1,500 kilowatts of alternating current supply. Owing to the outbreak of war, these contracts were not finally completed until 1920.
From the beginning, the Council has steadily increased its area of operation.
ELECTRIC POWER STATION: SWITCHBOARD.
ELECTRIC POWER STATION: BOILER ROOM. Showing Automatic Stokers.
​Auckland, including the supply to the tramways, in a single Power Station. The tramways had, in the previous year, become the property of the Council, and it was considered more efficient to have a single Power Station than to continue supplying the Tramways Department separately from its own Power Station in Hobson Street.
The Tramways Department Power Station, Hobson Street, was, in certain respects, out of date, and was unfavourably situated for extension. It was already overtaxed, and for over six years had been receiving help from the City Council Power Station at King's Wharf.
It was decided to convert the Hobson Street Power Station into a sub-station and establish a further tramway sub-station at Kingsland. These extensions involved a capital expenditure of £500,000.
The capital expenditure on the King's Wharf Power Station, and on reticulation, up to 31st March, 1921, was £506,000.
Two sub-stations are supplied from King's Wharf—one in Epsom, which was started in 1915, and one at Grey Lynn, started in 1920.
About ten miles of streets are now lit by electricity, and the Council contemplates considerable extensions of its street lighting system.
The total number of units sold for the year ended 31st March, 1921, was 10,496,060, of this, 3,552,333 ​units were supplied for lighting and the balance for power.
The total revenue for the same year was £108,734, the working expenses £67,932, and the profit for the year's operation £17,080.
A Power Board has been formed under legislation of 1921 to control the electric supply of the whole Auckland isthmus. The City Council and the representatives of all the other authorities concerned signed an agreement, by which the City sold the whole of its electrical undertaking to the Board, and this was validated by Parliament.
The first Auckland Electric Power Board elections were held on February 28, 1922, and the first meeting of the Board took place in the Auckland City Council Chamber on March 16th, when Mr. W. J. Holdsworth was elected chairman.
ALEX. WYLLIE,
Electrical Engineer to Power Board,
(Formerly City Electrical Engineer).