The Washington times., 1916-01-04
ELECTRIC COOKING
RANGE IS COSTLY
voluntary Reduction Of Rates
Does Not Appeal to Average
Washington Person.
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Ne separate service installed for. a
xoffee percolator. toaster. or laundry
Moreover-and it Is a point not to be
everlooked-in getting this separate
service. he would have to agree to pav
a minimum charge of 30 cents month
q. month which he pays for electric
lighting service. The company proposed
a minimum rate of 81 a month, but this
me commission cut In half
Ranges Are Expensive.
Electric ranges are expensive. When
Mr.. Ham stated to The Times repre-
sentative that about rs out Of the 5000
customers of the Potomac Electric
Power Company could hope for any i'm
mediate benefit from the "as proposed"
rates for, cooking and heating. he ex-
psnsd that he was referring to
ranges. Electric ranges run in price
from $40 for the smallest, to $50. for
the kind that would probably be need
price of a gas range for the averaga
sized family Is S25. So that the customer
who now cooks with coal or gas. in or
der to avail himself Of the ''as pro-
the investment made In his coal or gas
range. and pay out from $40 to $50 for
an electric range.
Mr.. Ham himself does not hope that
such thing would be done by the resi-
dence owner or the apartment house
owner who uses gas. He thinks. how
ever. that with new houses erected and
new apartment houses built 1t might
we'll happen that electric ranges would
be installed. In fact the seventy-five
persons to whom he refers live for the
most part in brand-new houses or apart
ments in which electric ranges were
installed when the buildings were
erected.
But will the favored individual. the
man who lives in a house or apartment
range: have his meals cooked any
cheaper under the new rates? At the
offices of the Washington Gas Light
took from the books at random the
monthly accounts of a large number OF
customers. who use gas exclusively for
cooking, and found that the average bill
was $3.50 or slightly below that figure.
Average Family's Cooking.
Assuming that the average family
spends an hour and a half day for
cooking-thirty minutes before each
meal. or fifteen minutes each before
breakfast and supper and an hour be-
fore dinner-it is not difficult to COM
pute what the head Of the family would
find his electric range costing him.
the formula used in the computation.
The capacity of an appliance when in
Use is measured in watts" One thou
sand watts" equal "kilowatt." So
Is 1000 watts the description employed
in the sales catalogues, 1t Is the same
as to say it's capacity Is five kilowatts.
Now. take an electric range Of type
BIS non-au tomato, plain inish," sold
by the Westinghouse Electric and Man
nfacturing Company. This range has
an overhead oven heater. a boiler heat
er. and one 10-inch and two S-inch discs
for cooking things in skillets and sauce
pans. In appearance and number OF
appliances 1t corresponds with the or
dinary gas range. but sells for $50 An
official of the Potomac Electric Power
Company was asked to compute what
this range would cost. on the average,
to run. The listed capacity of the range
was 1000 watts. but 1t was assumed
that not more than $500 watts would be
done would consume an hour and a
half a day. Changing decimal points.
he said the $500 watts would represent
3.5 (three and a half) kilowatts. Null
tiplying this figure by one and a half
hours-the kilowatts per day used-and
multiplying this result by thirty days.
he found that in a month this range
would use 1875 killowatt-hours Of cur
rent. Ten OF these 1875 kilowatt-hours
would be paid for at the 10-cent rate.
or 81. The remaining 147.5 kilowatt-
hours would be at the Scent rate, or
s4.41. Adding A.H to 81 he found that
range would be $5.H month for cook
Ing alone!
In justice to the Potomac Electric
Power Company it must be said that
this figure is higher than that justi-
fed by che computations Of the West
inghouse Company. based on careful
observations of the experience of twen-
ty-four families. The average consump-
n "a % 70 oil ~ ros U4 Cp-
nred by the westinghouse people was
ninety-seven kilowatt hours a month.
which, using the formula for figure cost
based on the newly fixed rates in
Washington, would make the average
monthly bill for cooking by electricity
$3.61 as against $3.50 for gas.
Another Comparison.
There Is another way of making this
comparison. out from the standpoint of
the cook trying to get hurried meal
II Is intensely practical. 1t is on the
basis of the relative amount of heat OBJ
tAined. The universally recognized
measurement of heat is the British
thermal unit. According to an expert
estimate which has been made it is
found that from each kilowatt hour OF
electric current. for which. under the
sumner would pay 3 cents, he would
get $40 British thermal units. From
3 cents worth of gas, however, officials
of the local gas company claim that
customer gets q. III British thermal units,
or something over six times as much
heat. From $3.50, the amount which
the average Washingtonian pays for
sas for cooking a month. he gets on
this basis nearly 100000 British therm-
al units of heat, whereas the man
cooking with the electric range would
get from the $S.61 which the Westing-
house Company says he would pay a
month, just about 40 1886 units.
The Potomac Electric Power COMPANY
officials say that in order to compute
the service property. two meters would
\ he necessary. In Boston. a few months
ago. there was inauGurated an electric
cooking and heating service, using a
single meter for both lighting and fuel,
and charging. instead of s cents per
kilowatt hour for the cxcoss over ten
kiiowatt hours a month. : cents. This
difference of a single penny can make a
lot Of difference. for the man who would
pay 1851 a month for electric cooking in
Washington. would get the same service
for s2.T in Boston.
Gamble For Company.
Its impossible" admitted Mr. Ham,
when seen by a REPRESENTATIVE of The
Times. ito predict just how many Gus
toners will benefit by the proposed new
scale. Frankly, IL Is a gamble with us.
move to create n new demand for eIaCtric