The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1906-08-02
The COST OF MAKING ELECTRIC
ITY.

Editors Journal-Dear Sirs: 1t has
occurred to me that it might not be a
bad plan to say something on the meth
DDS and conditions which effect the
cost OF electricity. The selling cost is
usually fairly we'll known to customers
who watch their bills and meters. A
man knows that he has consumed so
many kilowatt hours. 1t is unfortu-
nate that electricity cannot be put up
in boxes and bottles, labeled and tied
with string and sold over the coun-
ters at stores. We would like very
much to do that
But electricity is "hand to mouth"
product. It must be manufactured
just as fast as it is consumed. The
grocery man, and dry goods merchant,
the druggist and retail merchants gen.
orally lay in stock of goods which
they sell from day to day as demand is
made upon them.
Not so with electricity. When you
turn on an electric light in your house.
at that instant there is demand upon
the manufacturing capacity of the cleo
trio power station, and it may surprise
you to learn how quickly the demand
is supplied. When you turn the switch
or button, indicating that you want
electricity, the demand is supplied in
less than one-thousandth of a second
and electricity goes flowing back and
forth between the light of yours ami
the company's electric power station
at the rate Of 120 times each second
Sixty times per second it flows from
the power station to your lights and
sixty times per second it goes from the
light back to the power station. The
light which you have turned on has
made it necessary ITO shovel little
more coal into the furnace under the
boilers. But aside, from this extra
coal which has been consumed in salts
flying your demand for the electric
light, the company has been waiting
for that call from you and has provided
for it in way which you would never
| suspect. The company has installed
| ready to serve your house a meter.
From the meter the company has wires
leading to transformer located on a
pole somewhere in your block From
the transformer, wires lead back to the
power station. There they are con-
nected WITH a set of electricity "gener-
ators" which in turn are connected
with steam engines, each getting it's
power from steam boilers, in the fur
mace of which coal is consumed. The
electric company must keep ready for
you all this apparatus from the meter
in your house clear back to the furnace
under the boilers, and they must be
ready to supply yonr demands at the
instant when you turn on your switch
From this you will notice that the
company is, and must be, ready for
you every moment, New if we have,
say "a customers, and we could COM
mand each of the twenty-fo1r to burn
his electric lights for one hour per day
and never more than one customer dur
ing any one hour, then We would have
the ideal condition. But if all of the
q consumers want to burn their lights
at the same hour each day, then you
see we will have to have just "A times
as much wire, generators, engines and
boilers as we would have if we could
supply the "A at one time. Now all
that machinery and copper wire costs
money. Capitalists and the banks lend
money to buy machinery; but these
capitalists and banks have bad habit
of demanding interest on the money
they loan. We wish they did not, but
they do
We have already told you that for
every light you have installed in your
house or store we must have certain
amount of machinery and on that ma
chinery we must pay interest. The in
terest we have 60 pay is the same
whether you use your light one inmate
a day only, OF ten hours day. That
is what We call fixed charge. To sum
up, the cost of electricity is made up
of two items, first the fixed charges
which includes interest, depreciation
and all items which remain the same
whether you use your lights or not.
The second item includes coal, oil and
similar costs, which depend OH the
amount of light you use.
Yours truly,