Arizona republican., 1910-02-24
FACTS ABOUT BIG ELECTRICITY BILLS
One Reason For Them Given by a Man Who Has Technical knowI-
 edge of the Business.

VerSation and with no purpose of be-
 ing interviewed for publication. vol
 unteered some information to a Re- publican reporter explanatory of ex-
 horbtant light bills, that it is believed
 should be given the public. Later his
 consent was given to the publication of the facts. In view of the contro-
 versy now going on between the Pa |j cific Gas X Electric Co. and certain
 of the Phoenix people, it is only fair to Mir. Norris to say that he Is in no
 way connected with the company men
 toned or any of it's interests, is to the
 extent of selling electric supplies,
 something of competitor of that company, and in the discussion neither
 party to it represented anybody's in
 terest. It was merely a discussion of
 mechanical facts and conditions that |, at this time happen to be pertinent
 to the interest of nearly all citizens
 regardless of who owns their electric
 light plant. The facts stated are of
 special interest because Mir. Norris is
 a practical electrician.
 The question of meter inspection
 was the original topic and the sug-
 gestion was made that numerous well
 
 where special pains had been taken to
 insure economy, suggested on the face
 of things, that many meters must be
 badly out of order and that inspection
 seemed to be imperative. Mir. Norris
 took no exception to the idea of in Y spectiOn but went further and included inspection of wiring as well as of met
 CTS. as being the most needful thing He said that in his opinion he did not
 believe that very large percentage of meters were in bad condition and
 he did believe that of those that might
 be found varying from a perfect rec ord. it would probably be shown by
 inspection that more of them are run ming too slow than too fast.
 But" said MT. Norris. 'I believe the leakage complained of will in most | cases be found between the meter and the lamps" Then he proceeded to ex- plain why and in short, the reason given is cheap and therefore imper-
 feet wiring of houses. Too light quality of copper wire is used very often because it costs less and looks ' just as good. Next in connecting the
 wire to the meter beyond the regis ' terinS point, and in making connec- tions all over the house, splicing and | joining wires, etc, they are merely
 tied or wrapped together and covered | with the insulation. instead of being soldered together as should be done by a competent and painstaking work man. Wherever one of these connec- 4 tions is made and the wires are inn perfectly spliced, corrosion occurs. the
 wire is eaten away and sometimes
 fires are caused. Though the escaping
 current is not large in such places and
 usually nothing very inflammable
 touches the wire. where it does so a
 fire is likely to start at any time
 But the point made is the leakage
 of power after it has passed the me
 ter. Wherever such a defective con
 nection has been made the lamp burns just the same but in order to do so it consumes much more power than it
 should. Before the lamp burns the
 wire must be heated. and with a quar-
 ter or half the power entering the wire , escaping through a break. the meter
 has to deliver just that much more
 power constantly to the wire in order | to maintain the light. And every kill
 owatt that goes through is registered ! whether it ever reaches the burner or not. Mir. Norris said that he believed
 in many cases of wiring he has seen the loss was probably we'll toward 1! fifty per cent. that is one burner was i consuming nearly as much power as would be required. with perfect wir- i ing. to maintain two burners.
 | Interrogated further as to why there 1 is so much poor wiring. MT. Norris | said it is mainly due to cheap con- tract work A contractor gets the job of building house. taking it at | close figure in order to get it. He sub-lets the plumbing. the painting i the wiring. etc. to the man who will do it the cheapest for him. quite nat | urally, and the electrician in turn to I secure his contract puts the cheapest 1 materials possible into the work and I does it in the most nasty manner pos 1! sible. To one not having technical ! knowledge the job may seem to be a ! perfect one. The contractor no doubt | is as unconscious of the fraud in most cases as is his patron and in fact mo- body finds anything wrong with the ! job for a time until outrageous electric ! light bills drive the householder to an | itiNtStiedtibb. UT tfit idClS are EcNtditu by necessary repairs
 Mir. Norris says that in these days l all painstsking and competent electri- clans solder their joints and use wire of the proper size. Any others are either incompetent or in sense dis honest. or at least are doing very | cheap work because they only get 1 cheap price for it. But it was not always so in Phoenix. Years ago fa- cilities and equipment were less avail able, there was no such criticism as the controversy for the last year has brought forth and nobody to make strenuous objections to poor work. few knowing anything about it. Hundreds and hundreds of houses have been built here during the last twelve years within the knowledge of Mir Norris. and the most of them have been con- structed under the contract plan whereby the contractor and all the subcontractors naturally sought to make all they could out of their work It is that cheap work that the house holders with their imperfect wiring. are now paying for, and in many cases no doubt the Pacific Gas & Electric l Co. is getting the abuse that belongs orbitant light bills. that it is believed to imperfect wiring