The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-27
CITY CINCH
 FOR U. I. O.. This Shown by Comparison With Cost of Current in
 Detroit PUBLIC LIGHTING vs.
 PRIVATE LIGHTING For 1,2O0 Candle Power Lamp Bridgeport Pays .
 $79.75 Per Year For 2,OOO Candle Power Lamp Detroit Pays $44.89
 Per Year
PUBLIC LIGHTING IN BRIDGEPORT
 AND IN DETROIT

Detroit owns US own pia1C
 Bridgeport buys of private
 Detfoit produces a 2.ooo candle
 power lamp for $44.8S.
 Bridgeport pays for 1.2oo candle
 power lamp $7975.
 The 2.o0O candle power lamps In
 Detroit use 1.600 kilowatt hours of
 current per year.
 The 1.200 candle power lamps in
 Bridgeport consume 1900 k1loWatt
 hours of current per year.
 The United Illuminating Com
 pany sells current to a private customer. who uses less than the
 city uses. at cents per k1iowatt
 hour.
 The law does not permit a pub
 lie service corporation to sell its
 commodity to one customer at less
 than cost and overcharge another.
 Therefore the rate of cents per
 kilowatt hour probably includes
 profit to the company.
 At cents per kilowatt 1.300 k1lo-
 watts would cost this private con-
 sumner $39. but for the game mum
 Der of kilowaats the city pays
 $79.75.
 According to Moody:s Directory
 of corporations the United Illumi-
 mating company has 8sued stock
 and bonds amounting 3o $2.625,0O0.
 It pays in interest and dividends.
 according to the samez authority.
 s145.ooo annually.
 A comparison of the cost of public lighting in the city of Detroit. the leading municipality of Michigan. with the scant figures wrested from the United Illuminating Company of this city by the Council Committee. Tues day night. permits but two conclus- ions: either the facts given to the city in the statement prepared by Presi- To Ifc11 incorrect gigantic scale. or the superiority of ing works is overwhelming shown.
 Detroit does its own lighting. both and municipal. The dg- ures used are those in the report of the public lighting commission for the year ending June 30. 1907. The com parison is made with the figures of the United Illuminating Company. for 1906. as they appear in its statement in point of time the periods are prac- tically identical
 The comparison is confined to the matter of arc lighting. In the period named Detroit operated 3,374 2,OOO can- dle power lamps.
 The United Illuminating Company operated in this city in 1906 515 lamps of 1, 200 candle power.
 1t cost the United Illuminating Com pany in 1906 $75.60 cents to produce each of these 1900 candle power lights.
 But it cost the city of Detroit to only s44.ss. The operating. or cash cost was only $33.25. The larger fig ure includes an allowance for deprecia- ton of plant and $251 for taxes which the city estimates it would receive from a private corporation if the light ing was done by private persons. It also contains. in addition to the per cent. allowance for depreciation, an fn~ sofI oI,iv cry and lamps actually discarded. The latter allowance is $4.56 per lamp.
 The people of Bridgeport will wish to know whether it is the effective private management that makes a 1000 candle power lamp cost only $4489 in Detroit while a 1,200, candle power light costs to produce $75.60 in this city.
 MT Paul. the superintendent of the United Illuminating Company was un- able to inform the committee how many kilowatt hours of current were by the city lights, or what the cost per kilowatt hour was.
 The Public Lighting Commission of Detroit laborS under no such difficulty. All it's arc lights consumed in 1907 an average of 1860 kilowatt hours per lamp. Each of these kilowatt hours of current cost in cash $.02003. or two cents and three one thousandsths of } cent.
 Now what does it cost the United Company to produce a silowatt hour of current. Nobody knows excepting the officer of the com pany and its confidential servants. They apparently don't want to tell.
 But MT. Judson secured Tuesday evening the admission that the com pany has one customer to whom it sells current for cents per kilowatt hour. This customer. MT. Paul said, uses less current than the city of useS-
 The United Illuminating Company, being a public service corporation. has I no right to sell electricity to one per son at less than cost, and then over charge another person to make a prof It.
 Consequently it is fair to assume that the cent rate affords the com pany a profit. z Assuming that each 1900 candle power light uses the same quantity of current as each 2.000 candle power light uses in Detroit. which is 1,660 and assuming that the cent rate af- lords a profit then each light in this city could be furnished for s49 S9 at a profit and the company would receive the additional advantage that comes from not having to supply the 800 ex- tra candle power for each lamp. But according to Mr. English's statement each light consumes but 1900 kilo- watts The items entering into the cash cost of a 2.000 candle power arc lamp
 scuntinued on Second Rage.)