The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-04-20
Use OF ELECTRIC
lTY BY FARMERS

Everett II. Barber for the 'ldaho Far-
mer," deals primarily with ladho
farms. Its basic principles. however.
will apply to local conditions, and it
will therefore be of interest to Hood
RIVER orchardists.
The generation of electric energy by
water power has for the last Is years
held the center of the stage as the most
important development which has
marked our progress. What Is perhaps
the first true example of what we now
understand by the term "hydro-electfic
plant" was constructed in 1890. q plant
of 200 horsepower. This plant today
would indeed be considered quite insig-
nificant, but it marked the beginning of
great era, for not year has passed
snce then which did not bring with il
further progress along this line. until
today we find electricity transmitted
distances in excess of 200 miles and at
pressure of as much as l50, 900 volts.
The Idaho farmer is now in position
to receive the benefits of developments
sggregating approximately T0.0OO
horsepower, representing an investment
of about $50, 600, 600.
A comparatively small portion of the
aggregate outupt of electric energy In
Idaho is used by the farmers OF this
estate, but our farms are being elec-
tilted more and more each year. until
the farmer now promises tn be the
greatest user of electric energy in this
state.
This question is of vast Importance,
and the one with which shall deal
here. There are many elements to be
considered in the making of rates for
electric energy. Many Of these are
common to all forms of business, while
others are peculiar to the electrical in
dustry alone. OF this latter class the
most important is load factor, by which
10 meant the cont inuity with which the
service is used, or the ratio which the
average use bears to the maximum use.
A very small number of power con-
sumers use any given amount OF power
continuously, but the vast majority of
power consumers desire a continuous
service, !. e., a readiness upon the part
Of the.power company to supply them
with energy up to the limit of their
connected load at any time of the day
or night, and see no reason why they
can not be assured of such service.
Let me state here that in this respect
the electrical business is fundamentally
different from any other line of en-.
deavor. The selling of electrical ener-
gy can not be governed by the same
rules which govern the sale of mer.
chandise and other commodities, but
must be considered as being in a class
by itself.
That depends to a great extent upon
the individual who is using the power.
to depend largely upon how much OF
the time you make use Of the full
amount Of power you demand from the
power company, or your load factor.
Let US assume that your connected load
amounts to 10 horse power, that is, you
have motors and other appliances ag-
gregating 10 horsepower. This install
Iation might consist:of lights and small
appliances in your home, such as an
electric iron, range, toaster, coffee
percolator, washing machine, etc.,
and perhaps five horsepower motor
which might be used for general utility
purposes around the farm, such as
grinding and chopping feed, pumping
water, etc. 1t is not plausible to as
sumo that all of these appliances will
be in use and carrying their full rated
load all of the time. That would be
physically impossible. but it is entirely
possible and even probable that at
some time during each week or month
your full load will be on for at least
short time, and for that reason your
maximum demand must be considered
equal to your full connected load, and
you must pay rate which, in addition
to other costs. will pay interest upon
an investment made by the power COM
pany to install 10 horsepower of gener-
ating machinery which it is maintain
ing for the purpose of supplying this
particular service to you, even though
you may use it for only an hour or two
each day.
why can't the power company sell
that power to someone else when am
not using it," is very natural ques-
tion to ask.
1t does, to a limited extent--as much
as it can, but the power company
doesn't know when you will want to
use it. and if the power company con.
tracted to sell very much of it to other
users it would soon find it necessary to
increase it's generating plant. 1t is
true that there is diversity between
different users and different classes of
users and the power company is, as be-
fore stated, able to resell portion of
your unused energy. This is known as
diversity factor and is taken into con-
sideration in rate making.
"How can ! remedy that situation?
| certainly don't want to pay for some
thing | am not getting"
That's easy. Use it all of the time.
1t has so many uses that If | should
attempt to enunerate them here my
list would need revising before could
get to print with it. Make your install
lation as small as you can get along
with, and then find some use for 1t as
much of the time as possible, or 10
other words, increase your load factor,
and as you do SO, not only will the av-
erage cost for each kilowatt hour come
down through your own efforts. but the
power company will gladly make you
reduction from the whole amount.
The rate made to you by the power
company is based upon a continuous
service, and you are then given credit
for such amount as the power company
may be able to resell of what you do
not use to some other user. In the case
of the farmer this might be as much as
10 per cent. Consequently, if you have
10 horsepower installation, your con.
sumption is figured at TAG kilowatt
hours per day, and you are then cred
tied with Is per cent of that amount,
which they are able to sell to your
neighbor. leaving you charged with l52
kilowatt hours per day. Now. the
power company in order to cover all
expenses of operation and reasonable
return to it upon its investment, must
charge you, say $1,000 per annum for
furnishing you this service, and you
use it for two hours each day on an av
erage, you are paying for such service
q tho pofa 81 oarts 4.