The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-12-09
RATES
EXPLAINED
As Low As In Salt Lake City For
Same Service...LOWer Than In
Many Places.

Regarding electric light rate in the
city, Manager Mendenhall of the Ely
Light & Power company yesterday
gave the statement below, which sets
forth clearly the manner of charges
made and gives interesting facts in
which users of the service who have
found complaint to make about bills
may find answer. Mr., Mendenhall
said:
In the first place our basic rate
is 20 cents per 900 watt hours. AS
one thousand watt hours is equal to
one kilowatt hour, the rate is usually
stated as 20 cents per kilowatt hour.
An ordinary 16 candle power lamp
uses approximately 60 watts so that
if it burns one hour The meter will
register 60 watt hours and in 1 6 2-3
hours the meter will register 6 2-3
times so watt hours, making 1000
watt hours or one kilowatt hour,
which costs 20 cents. This is at
the rate of one and one-fifth cents
per hour for 1 6 candle power lamp.
Our meters read directly in kilowatt
hours Just as a water meter reads In
gallons. Any consumer may check
his bill by taking the difference in
the reading on the first and last of
the month, which will be the number
of kilowatt hours used during the
month. and multiply this difference
by 30 cents. This would seem and is
in fact excessive, since the company
can afford to supply current at a
lower rate to a consumer who uses
it's machinery and constantly pays re-
hours per day. The machinery must
be kept running anyway and many
of the expenses as for example in
terest, labor and general expense are
not proportionately increased.
An optional rate is offered for the
benefit of this class of customers.
This rate can be best explained by an
example. Take a customer who has
ten 6 candle power lamps and burns
each A hours per night or APO hours
per month. His meter would regis
ter approximately 250 kilowatt hours
per month and his bill at 20 cents
per kilowatt hour would be $50. On
our optional rate his bill is made up
of fiat rate charge of 10 cents per
Is candle power per month and an
additional meter charge of cents
per kilowatt hour, and the sum of
these two charges gives the total for
the month. A sliding scale of dis
counts ranging from to 20 per cent
is offered for payment of bills on or
before the 10th of the month. This
customers bill would be figured as
follows:
Flat rate charge, ten 16 candle
power lamps at 75c. ....$ 80
Meter charge, $50 kilowatt
hours at Sc. ........... 1000
Total bill ...............$ 27.50.
1T will be seen that his bill has
been almost halved by this second
rate and that the cost per kilowatt
hour has been reduced from 20 cents
to / cents ($27.50 divided by 250).
The cost per 16 candle power lamp
per hour has been reduced from l
2-10 cents to 65 cents. The rate OF
II cents is identical with that charg-
ed in Salt Lake City for the same
class of service and we submit that
it is as low as the rates of any com
pany operating under conditions sim
liar to those existing in Ely. It
should be remembered that mine run
coal costs $S.75 per ton f. o. b. Ely,
as compared with 81 to So in most
other places.
I'VE believe that careful consid-
Grafton of the foregoing facts should
lead to a clearer understanding of
our basis of charging and remove
much of the misunderstanding which
now exists"