The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-18
LIDE REPORT ON
 NEW LIGHT RATES
Average Reduction to City About 17
 Per Cent.
Official Figures of Gty's Consulting Engineer
 Are Published in Full.

multiplied by : cents less 10 per cent, or 8.3 cents; if it is 25 to 15o k. w. H., it should be multiplied by cents less 15 per cent. or 5g5 cents, and so The amount of the bill will then be the amount of the 30 hour usage nt 91a cents plus that of the excess computed as above shown, assuming, of course, tbnt the bills are paid on or before the 10th of the month.
 It is not possible to make an abstract numerical comparison between the present and the proposed rate in this city. since the provisions, of the rates are entire dissimflar, nor with the rates in other cities, unless the provisions of the rates in the cities considered are similar to those proposed for this city. Average Rate Paid Accordingly, as a concrete compar- son between the present and the pro- posed rate for this city the writer has examined the bills for about 400 resi- dences on the Southside of the city, and has found that the aaverage rate per K. w. H. paid by the residents of this section is about 10A cents and that under the rate proposed the aver $. that consequently the new rate would have affected a saving of about IA per cent to 15 per cent in the cost of Iight- ing in this particular section. Since. however. the lights are probably burned later in this section of the city than in others, it Is very probable that, taking the city as whole, the reduction would run from 13 per cent to 14 per cent fin residences. In commercial lighting. conditions are more varied, but the tendency is toward greater average us- age of the lights. From abstract con- alterations, and from the examination of commercial bills, the writer is lead to the conclusion that the reduction in commercial lighting will be greater than in the residence lighting, and that 1t will run from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. The writer Is further advised that the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company proposes to offer an additional. special commercial rate which will be optional with the rate proposed. the customer being allowed the choice of either rate
 In comparing the new rate pro-
 proposed by the Birmingham Rail-
 way, Light md Power Company.
 with the rates in effect in other
 cities of the south, the writer has checked the tnbulation submitted
 
 way, Light and Power Company,
 for the residence installations, and
 has found the same to be sub
 stantial1y correct. From fhis tab
 uIation 1t would appear that the
 rate proposed is lower than that
 in most of the largest Southern cities, although such cities as
 Montgomery, Mobile, Jacksonville
 and New Orleans have not Ieen
 given.
 In conclusion the writer trusts that the above discussion will be of some service to you. and awaits your fur ther orders. Respectfully submitted,
 MARTIN J. LIDE,
 Consulting Engineer.
 The second report follows:
 Hon. James Weatherly, Commissioner,
 City of Birmingham, Ala.
 Sir--This letter is supplementary to my letter of October 30 with refer ence to the proposed change in rates by the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company, and is In re- sponse to your request for more def mite statement in reference to the ap- plication of the proposed rate to com mercial lighting. sttst
 In the writer's report of the 30th the statement was made that the re- duction in the cost of commercial
  than that in residence lighting. and would probably run from 15 to 25 per cent. At the time the first report was made, the data of the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company, covering the application of the rate to commercial lighting had been taken to New Orleans by the officials of the company, and were therefore not available to the writer for investiga- tion. The writer has since investi- gated this data carefully, and has to make the following report:
 The Birmingham Railway. Light and Power company as stated in the pre- vious report, proposes to install a spe- cal rate for large commercial users, this rate to be. applicable only to those customers whoses monthly excess of K. w. H. is 250 K. w. H. or more. It Is understood that this special rate will be lower than the rate at present proposed.
 The writer finds that out of q total of 1,03S commercial custom
 CTS, only 150, or about 8 per cent, would he entitled to the special rate, 1,7s2, or 82 per cent, receiv- ing the rate already proposed. The writer further finds that this 8 per cent of the total commercial cus- toners. constituting the large users and receiving the special large con- sumers' rate, consumed about 51 per cent of the commercial K. w. H. output of the central station, the remaining 92 per cent constituting the small users, and taking the proposed rate, consuming about 49 per cent of the commercial K. w. H. output
 The writer further finds that the
 average rate per K. w. H. at pres- ent paid by the small commercial customers, cOmprising about S2 per cent of the total customers, h about 0N cents per K. w. H., and | that on the basis of the rate pro- ! posed, the average rate to these customers would have been O.SS
 cents per K. w. H., making . re- duction of about 20 per cent.
 The average reduction to the city at large. considering the reduction of 20 per cent for small commercial
 users, and 13 per cent for resi-
 denccs would average between 16 | and 20 per cent, probably aver. | aging about 17 per cent. & I Respectfully submitted, N