Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-06
ELECTRICITY IN ENGLAND.
Arc and Incandescent Lights Too
Costly for General Use.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe
Why is it, asks Traction and Transmits
sion of London, that electric light has not
become more popular, and that consumers
are still in small minority In general,
when persons and companies have a good
article to sell and favorable field for bust
ness 1t must be their own fault if they fail
to do large trade. Artificial light is prac-
tically daily necessary of life, and electric
light is by far the best, yet it has not
reached the average man" This is, to
some extent, due to the initial cost of wir-
ing and fitting premises. which temporary
tenant is 10th to incur.
The so-called free wiring arrangements
and hire purchase agreements have been
tried in various shapes and forms, but COM
panies have been reluctant to eXpend CAPT.
tai in this direction, and consumers, on
their part, have not exhibited any eager
ness to pay rental for wires and lamps.
More recently the system of absolutely free
wiring has been tried in one or two places,
and with encouraging results. Only half
dozen lamps are installed in the passages
and living rooms, where they are sure to be
freely used, and the company looks for its
return on the outlay of about f3 los, not
merely to the steady demand of those
lamps but to the likelihood of the con-
sumner extending the installation, which he
does in the majority of cases. The six
lamps of sixteen candle power should yield
at 4d. per unit revenue of about Is year.
out of which the company might write off
part of the cost of the fitting and still
make a small profit, with the almost GER
tain prospect of a more remuneratve re-
turn in years to come Companies which
have ventured upon this policy, such as the
Blackheath and Greenwich, have had no
reason to regret their enterprise.
An even greater obstacle than the expense
of fitting is the question of price, which
has been governed by engineers rather than
by business men, 1t is for the former. to
calculate what 1t costs to produce cleo
tricity; 1t is for the latter, with this cost
price before them, to find means of selling
the STUFF to the best advantage. Not
that there need be any conflict of interests
or of opinions between the two depart
ments 1t is the function of the engineer to
generate cheaply, and of the business man.
ager to increase the total revenue without
interfering with the efforts of the engineer
The dominant idea of both is obviously to
keep the machinery at work as many hours
a day as possible. The plant is there; it
has cost good deal of money, and it de-
preciates almost as rapidly when it is idle
when it is running. The majority of
electric lighting stations make therefore
certain concessions and allowances to the
consumer whose demand tends to employ
the machinery for comparatively long
spell per day. There is not an electrical
engineer or manager in the country who
does not know that if all his customers
only needed one hours light each day. and
that at about the same time he could not
supply them prG1itady at less than I'd or
Sd. unit. This is cardinal fact that
should not be-but frequently is-ignored.