The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-19

[ operation by t%s company, at the rates herein advocated. for it is the opinion l of your committee that a substantial | increment in this business will result l from the reduced rates and that sGt- isfactory returns will develop there 1 from.
 | The application of the 7c and 4c rate, 1 based on the first 30 hours use of the consummer connected load, as applied l tc the year 1914, would net return | slightly less than the application of the proposed ', 6, ) and block system rate {, but your committee strongly recommends 1 the abandonment of the connected load l charge Aside from the reasons herein above mentioned, we realize that the ap- ! plicaton of 7c and 4c. primary and sec i ondary rate, based on the connected load,
 or 50 per cent thereof, will require and l justify an immediate resurvey of the en- 1 tire city, which, from our observation, we feel sure will materially change the
 ratings of large proportion of the cus- ] toners of this company, and will result, regardless of the reduction in actual rate, l in an increase in charge to number of 1 customers while others will enjoy re- 1 duction in their bills. ranging from 40 | per cent to 60 per cent It is our opinion, i therefore, that this change in rate would result in an inequitable distribution of l the benefits to accrue from the reduction | in rate
 l We appreciate the fact that the block 1 system rate of ', G. 5 and for 20, 30, 15O and additional units of energy consumed, | plus a service charge of 25c per meter, 1 will represent a general charge slightly l in excess of the and 4 connected load 1 rate, but the block rate will more thor oughly distribute the benefits of the re- | duction and, in our opinion, would be preferable to the and 4 connected load 1 rate.
 1 4. Your committee, in response to the l suggestion that it make such recommen- dations as in it's judgment would be prop CT. has, after a very intensive study of 1 this subject, decided to recommend rate which would represent no doubt greater l reduction to all residential and commer- l cial lighting consumers even than the rates heretofore demanded by yourself | and the commission council, and even | though we realize that this rate will af- l ford the New Orleans Railway 6 Light Company less return than any rate hereto | fore discussed. We appreciate the fact that in it's application it will be more l general in it's effects, and will do more to demonstrate the sincerity of the com mission council in it's demands and of this company in it's concessions, than the application of any of the other rates mentioned or discussed thus far It is
 
 way & Light company at this time to make concessions, additional to the original | demands, will come to them as a surprise, I and may appear unrea sonableh but your committee feels and assumes that the rate herein proposed has such merit, and l will so materially assist in the develop ment of the necessary increase in output l that those in charge of the New Or 1 leans Railway & Light company will give serious consideration to this suggestion. i We recommend, as a substitute for all other proposed rates, the establish ment of flat rate of Sc per k. ". h. for 1 all commercial and residential light cus- toners up to and including the first 200 k W. hours use in each month and 4c per k. w. h. for all energy consumed in excess thereof, with a service charge of | 25c per meter, and minimum consump- 1 ton of 5oc per month This rate very closely approximates results that would accrue from a municipally owned and operated plant, and would, no doubt, net little if any profit to this company on the basis of it's present output We realize however, from our investiga ton, and from the expressions of those in charge of the affairs of this corporation, that the adoption of this proposed schedule, or either of the other schedules herein re- -erred to- make necessary considera ble increase in output in order to afford ade- quate and satisfactory returns. Such being the case your committee feels that the rate 1t suggests, being so simple of appli- cation and so easily understood, will more readily accomplish the necessary results. TO more clearly demonstrate the ef- fects of the rate we propose we ap- pend chart showing the average rate which any customer would pay for any monthly consumption. On the old rate schedule the curves for different sized customers vary greatly, but un- der the new proposed rate where the capacity of the connected load is not taken into consideration, one curve is sufficient to illustrate the rate for every customer.
 In order to show the comparison of the new rate with the old, charts have been prepared showing the relative curves for each of the following cana cities: A F, l. ?, 3 and kwts. of connected loads respectively. On these charts the number of k. w.. h. used in the month can be found on the bot tom line and the height of the curve above the point, representing k. W. h. used in the month, then corresponds to the average rate which would have to be paid under the old and under the new rate. as indicated by the figures in the vertical line at the left of the chart.
 In order to more fully illustrate the
 
 duction of lighting bills, tables have been prepared showing. first, the saw ing to residence customers by the new rate schdule and. second, the saving to commercial customers.
 In each of these tables actual bills have been taken at random from the books of the New Orleans Railway and Light company and these bills will rep. resent customers from the smallest to the largest size of the residence and commercial lighting class
 In the tables of the various columns will show:
 1st. K ". h. capacity of the custom CTS connected load.
 2d. The k. w. h. used by him in Jam uary, 1914.
 Sd. The amount of his bill for that month on the old rate.
 4th. What his bill would have cost on the new rate; and
 5th The column will show the saving which will be effected to this customer by the reduction in rate.
 Following this will be columns show ing what his consumption was in July, 1914 together with the amount on the cd and new rate, and the saving ef- fected by the new rate on his July bill.
 eth In the foregoing it is shown that the gross total revenue of the New Or
 leans Railway and Light company for the year 1914 was $1,421 ,002.00. In an- swer No. is shown that on our esti- ma fe of the present value of the physi-