The evening times., 1913-05-10
FIGURING THE COST.

II will be matter for great regret
If ii turns out that it is impossible
before the next council meeting. to as
certain the power cost of pumping WA
ter at the city plant and of generating
electricity respectively. The Times
has heard considerable surprise OK
pressed that this information has not
been on hand all the time. and there
have been some expressions of doubt
that this was true, for each year re-
ports have been made on the cost of
pumping water and of operating the
lighting system, the cost of pumping
being reduced to cents per thousand
gallons. and that of operating the
lights to s" much per arc for the arc
system and per pole for the ornamcn-
tai system. How can it he, is the
question asked, that this information
cannot he obtained now when in the
past il has been obtained and filed
from year tn year?
A word of explanation on the sit
uaton may he in order at this time.
Certain parts of the two plants are
separate, and arc operated separately.
The waterworks system consists of
that portion located at the pumping
station, the filter plant, and the va
rious mains which deliver water
throughout the city The electric
plant consists of that portion at the
station. the wires for distribution. and
the lamps and other equipment 1T
is an easy matter to- keep track of the
separate cost of each department. for
each is operated separately, and labor.
material etc. used on each can read
lily hc charged to the proper depart
ment. There remains to be added the
power cost in order to get Il correct
total.
The power plant is a joint plant.
The same boilers are used generate
steam for both. The same men shovel
coal and perform other Work for both
at the same time. We understand
that in order to- get at some sort of
division.of this cost it has been the
practice 10 make an estimate of the
coal consumption, experience show
ing that when both plants were rum
ming a certain proportion more coal
was used than when only one was i'm
operation. In this way it was posi-
bic to get at a basis of compa risun,
and the judgment of the engineer WIS
used in making the proper division.
nn 1,.aSi q n nf o,
of labor, oil, etc, was also made.
This, as we understand it. is the basis
on which we have arrived AT the state
ments of cost which have been pub
1ished from time to time. This system
Is admittedly inaccurate. as it fails to
take account of various variations,
such as variations of load, and a num-
her of other things. which might he
estimated with reasonable approach to
accuracy. but concerning which no
exact statement was possible.
The reason that it has been neces-
cary to depend on this method of COM
putation is that the plant has not been
equipped with meters to measure
the condensation from each engine. by
means of which il would have been
possible to determine quite exactly the
proportion of steam being used by
each plant. The basis of computation
used in arriving at the cost of operat-
ing a steam plant is the quantity of
coal that it takes to make steam of
a given quantity of water. This can
be readily ascertained if equipment
Is provided for that purpose but it
appears that while the measurements
could be made quite easily here if ev-
erything We're in shape. leakages in
the condensers, in the opinion of the
engineers, would make any attempt at
close estimate from them impractica-
BILE. 1t is to be hoped, however, that
as definite information as possible
will be placed before the council when
It meets.