The Washington times., 1916-01-05
HIGH COST SHOWN
IN ELECTRIC RATES
Study Of Schedules in Other
Cities Shows Washington
Prices Are Heavy.
Continued from First PageD

| Continued from First PageD
buston. as is the case with gas. which
| once burned. passes into the atmosphere.
| The light In the electric lamp IL caused
bv the energy produced by the flow OF
The current and this current. after
passing through your lamp. goes back
| to the generator In the electric COM
| panv's plant. TO put 1t another way.
| electricity in producing the energy
| which makes YOUR light oncrates as a
stream of water passing through the
| wheel Of a mill: and II this water Is not
| turned into waste sewer. but Is car
| ried back above the dam. you have an
| analogy TO the process which goes on
| with the production OF electric light. 1t
| Is important to understand this distinc-
| ton. for. without such understa nding. 1t
] Is impossible to see how the electric
/ meter in YOUR cellar works.
| Bearing in mind the analogy. It Is pos
| sible to get working idea of the terms
| employed as electrical units Of measure
| ment. For example. tn" measurement
| ccrresponding to the 'Pai'ons pcr sec:
wheel. is. in electricity. the "ampere. I"
| or rate of now.' The pressure. or
| pounds pcr square inch OF the water
falling on the bledes Of the wheel. cor
| rate nt Witch the water does work at
| the mill OF the horsepower OF the
| stIeam. corresponds to the electrical
| unit known as watts The energy
1
LsIrcifi"d periods OF time. or horse
| power-hOurs" is equivalent TO the cleo
! tric%l unit of ''watt-hours.'
| Becomes Less Complicated.
! The 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
! Is to be measured at your meter is the
| ''irCt;ical energy consumed by your
| 'arlpS, 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 70 the extreme right measuring
| kilowatt-hours. and the figures on the
three other dials. In order from right
to left. measuring multiplies OF k!lo-
| watt hours. In other words. If the dial
] on the extreme right points at tn,
figure \. the next one to the figure >.
the next to the figure :. and the on"
on the extreme left to the ti"ure ;. the
reading OF the meter IS 2,I5S ktlowatt-
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
preceding month from the total shown
i'm the reading on the last day Of the
month in question.
! II you are burning only one lamp the
motor in the meter revolves very slowly
taking longer to register n single kilo.
| watt hour OF energy consumed thar
would be the case II you had ten lamps
/ going and the motor in the meter was
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 Off. Assume
the reading shows .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 lamps multiplied
by % watts. which equals 80 watts. In
four hours these lamps should consume
electrical energy to the amount OF
times 30 watts. or 1000 watt-hours. oI
kilowatt hour.
Is Total Installation.
Now. coming back to the expression
current Cenergy) consumed during tho
first 10 hours use. monthly. Of con
nected load. at 10 cents per kilo'
, watt hour" used in the cleo
discovery Is made. Connected load.
it 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 youi
house. So that. in saying that youl
rate for current is 10 cents per kilowatt
, hour for current used during the frs
120 hours. monthly. Of connected loat
! the company means to say that all th'
lamps in YOUR house. whether there are
| six or sixty. must be burned simultane
ously for a period of l20 hours month
or four hours a day. before the excesl
l. fnr as
That any householder, short of out
whose extravagant habits are sub1ec
to review by. an alienist. or who doe
| not run a palace of light, would adop
| The practice of keeping the lights II
every room burning four hours dal
seems absurd. The explanation giveI
by the company-and most electri
light companies have. a standard or 1
more or less similar kinds that in
asmuch as the company's plant mus
| be able at any time to let the house
| holders OF Washington burn all thei
lights at one time, 1t is fair to us'
| this connected load basis in fXinl
| rates. From the standpoint of al
electric company. therefore. said q,
III official of the Potomac Electric Pow
er Company. the man with barbe
shop who uses all six lamps in hi
| place four hours an evening, Is NOR
protita BILE as a customer than the maj
with the twenty-room residence VIII
| has a hundred lamps, but never burn
" them all at the same time; for in tn
| ! case of the former there is stead,
| I and consistent demand for curren
| up 10 the limit of installation.
| few residence customers of the Poto
mac Power Company ever reach tn
scent rate. When the inquiry was Of
| in Baltimore by the Maryland Publ
Service Commission prior to the re
duction in lighting rates there fron
H 10 cents TO So cents per kilowat
hour. 1t was found that of all tn
| customers i'm this class only pc
| cent ever reached the secondary rate
and in Baltimore, under the old rate
| the customer did not have to bur
all his lamps as much as 120 kilowa :
| ( hours a month.
l. Washington pays q higher primar