Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-01-28
POWER AND LIGHT CHEAPER.
State Company as Result of Connection
with Vernon. 4 insdaIe Dam.

Announcement was made this week by
the Twin State Gas and Electric company
of the reduction which was promised
Jan. J. The reduction takes effect imme-
diately and the bills for the current
month will he made out on the reduction
basis. 1t is expected that further reduc-
ton can be made next month and stll fur
Their reductions will depend on the effect
the present reduction has on the business
of the company. If the reduction in rate
results in an increase in demand. either
from the present consumers or from new
patrons, the company will be able to cut
the price still further, but if the consump-
uon remains about as IL is at present no
greater reduction can be made. The fixed
running expenses of the company remain
about the same whether the consumption
Is greater or smaller The present cut
was made possible by the cheaper power
from the Connecticut river dam as COM
pared with power from the steam plant,
but any further reduction must be pro-
vded for by increased consumption
Taking the reduction as a whole it
amounts to about 20 per cent from the
former rates. The prices for electricity
for lighting purposes have been decreased
two cents kilowatt and the cut in power
electricity is two cents a kilowatt for the
smaller consumers and one cent a kilo-
watt for the large consumers. Any
further reduction will benefit the small
The highest rate charged heretofore was
10 cents a kilowatt. This was for the first
so kilowatts, but a rate Of 10 cents was
given for the second so kilowatts, 10 cents
for the next so and seven cents for the
next 80 kilowatts which were consumed
each month, None Of the consumers who
used electricity for lighting took enough
to secure the seVen-cent rate and ii has
been left as il was. on the same basis
as the old schedule rates of 10, 10 and s
cents have been made for lighting. If
1t will be possible for the company to
make even a slight reduction from these
figures the rates here will be on a par
with other places of similar size.
The company had a scale of prices for
users of electricity for power ranging
from 10 to 2A cents a Klowatt The 10
cent rate was for consumers using so kilo-
watts or less, a seven-cent rate was given
for the next 30 kiloWatts a six cent rate
for the next 100 kilOwatts and a hye-cent
rate for the next 100 kilowatts. These
prices have been reduced to eight, six,
five and four cents respectively. These
are the regular rates, but in special cases
individual contracts are made which will
lessen these rates slightly. The manage
ment of the company does not believe
that it will be possible to reduce the power
rates materially from these figures.
On the whole the reduction whicn has
been made is more than the officers Of
the company believed could be made at
this time. II is made on the basis of the
amount of business and the cost of opera
ton since the connection with the Con-
necticut river power was made. The
policy Of the company is to give the con-
sumers the full advantage of the new
conditions in the expectation that a re-
duction in the rate viii stimulate new
business.