The Washington times., 1916-01-05
HIGH COST SHOWN
N ELECTRIC RATES
Study Of Schedules in other
Cities Shows Washington
Prices Are Heavy.
tcontInued from FIrst Pagel

bustlon as is the case with gas, which
once burned. passes into the atmosphere
The llght In the electric lamD II caused
bv the energy produced by the how OF
the current. and this current after
passing through your lamp. goes back
to the generator In the electric COM
panY's plant. To nut II another way
electricity in producing the energy
which makes your light operates as a
stream OF water passing through the
wheel Of mill: and II this water Is not
turned into a waste sewer. but Is car
ried back above the dam. you have an
anaIOgY. to the process which goes on
with the production OF electric light. 1t
lH important to understand this distinc-
1 tion. for without such understanding, II
Is impossible to see how the electric
meter ia YOUR cellar works.
Bea ring in mind the analogy. II is DOS
sible to get a working Idea OF the terms
employed as electrical units OF measure
| p1ent For example. the measurement
ond" OF water passing through the mill
wheel. is. in electricity. the "ampere."
or rate Of tiow' The pressure. or
pounds rcr SQUARE inch'' OF the water
falling on the bledes Of the wheel. cor
responds to volts" in electricity. The
rate AT which the water does work at
the mill. or the horsepower" Of the
| stream. corresponds TO the electrical
Unit known ms watts" The energy
produced bv the water at the mill in
lspecified periods OF time. or horse
power hours" il equivalent TO the cleo
! tric2l unit OF "watt-hours.'
Becomes Less Complicated.
Thr unit used commercially in measur-
| ing the electrical energy which your
lamp consumes Is the "watthour." or.
more commonly. the "kIlowatt-hour,'
which means simply a thousand watt
| hours. Remembering. now. that what
| ts to be measured at your meter is the
4 a etst.s 11NUF Nod
| 'aEIps, or the rate at which the current
| works in an hour in operating your
| lights. the electric meter becomes less
complicated. This meter is essentially
made up of a tiny electric motor driv-
| ing four registering dials. the figures on
| the dial TO the extreme right measuring
kilowatt-hours, and the figures on the
! three other dials. In order from right
| watt-hours. In other words. IL the dial
] on the extreme right points at the
: figure g. the next one TO the figure o,
the next to the figure !, and the one
on the extreme feft to the figure >. the
reading OF the meter is 2,75S kilowatt-
hours, meaning the amount OF electrical
| energy consumed since the meter was
last adjusted. AS meters are set back
to zero only very rarely. II Is necessary
In reading the electrical energy con-
sumed in any month, to subtract the
reading taken on the last day OF the
preceding month from the total shown
| In the reading on the last day OF the
a month In question. {
II you are burning only one lamp the
motor in the meter reVolves very slowly.
taking longer to register a single kilo-
twopld be the case II you had ten lamps
going and the motor in the meter was
revolving more rapidly II YOU want to
determine how much energy all the
lamps in your house. burning at any
one time. consume. first read your meter
with all the lamps turned of. Assume
the reading shows 1.5l5 kilowatt hours.
| and you want to see how many kilowatt
\ hours all your lamps Will burn in four
hours, and say that YOU have ten lamps
each bearing the label ''25 watts" The
rate at which the electrical energy is
used. therefore. Is 10 4amps multiplied
four hours these lamps should consume
| electrical energy to the amount OF 4
times go watts. or 1000 watt-hOurs. or
l kilowatt hour.
Is Total Installation.
Now. coming back to the expression
current (energy) consumed during the
first 40 hours use. monthly. OF con-
nected load. at 10 cents per lilo-
i watt hour used in the cleo
trio company's folder. an amazing
discovery is made. Connected load"
il seems. means all the lamps or other
appliances in your house that are con-
nected by wire to the company's meter.
that is. the total installation in your
house. So that. in saying that your
rate for current Is 10 cents per hlowatt-
i hour for current used during the first
120 hours, monthly. OF connected load
the company means to say that all the
lamps in your house. whether there are
II six or sixty must be burned simultane-
ously for a period OF l2O hours a month
or four hours a day, before the excess
you use is charged for at the secondary.
That any householder, short OF Que
whose extravagant habits are subject
to review by. an alienist, or who does
not run q palace of light, would adopt
The practice of keeping the lights IN
every room burning four hours day
seems absurd. The explanation given
by the company-and most electrl"
i light companies hRvN standard OF a
more or less similar kinds that in
asmuch as the company's plant must
be able at any time to let the house
holders OF Washington burn all their
lights at one time. 1t is fair to use
this connected load basis In fixing
electric company, therefore. said an
official of the Potomac Electric Pow
III er Company, the man with a barber
N shop who uses all six lamps in his
| place four hours an evening. Is more
III profitable as a customer than the man
with the twenty-room residence who
| has a hundred lamps, but never burns
them all at the same time; for in the
case of the former there is a steady
| and consistent demand for current
up to the limit of installation.
| few residence customers of the Poto-
mac Power Company ever reach the
scent rate, When the inquiry was on
in Baltimore by the Maryland Public
Service Commission prior to the re.
duction in lighting rates there. from
10 cents to Sh cents per kilowati
hour, it was found that of all the
| customers In this class only s pei
cent ever reached the secondary rate
and in Baltimore. under the old rate
the customer did not have to burr
all his lamps as much as 1870 kilowatt
| hours a month.
Washington pays 9 higher primSry