Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-04-07
DEMAND ELECTRICITY
Lights Wanted by Several Resi-
dents Of DummerSton
Connecticut River Power Co. Insists
that 1t Must Get Enough to Pay In
terest on Investment

that 1t Must Get Enough to Pay In
terest on Investment.
The hearing before the public SER
vice commission on the petition to have
electricity furnished to residents Of
Dummerston by the Connecticut River
Power Co., which was begun two weeks
ago, was resumed yesterday in the
office of the commission, Chairman X.
G. Bacon and W. A. Dutton of the
board being present.
The company sought to present fig
ures Of the probable consumption Of
electricity on such a small line by COM
PARSONS with figures taken from the
Vernon business, that in Westminster
and Alstead w. r. Daley, of counsel
for the petitioners, objected to this be-
ing presented except by persons imme-
diately familiar with those lines and
business and arrangements were made
to have some witnesses present in the
afternoon who were not there in the
morning.
Attorney c. c. Fits for the company
explained that he desired to show
what the cost to the company would
be of the construction of such a line.
lie said that if a guarantee were made
of the amount of current that would
be taken by the consumers in Dummer-
ston one factor of difference would be
eliminated, but it was necessary to
know what the likely consumption of
electricity would be and the only way
to determine that was by comparison
with the consumption on similar lines.
The accepted way is to take the load
factor, he said He had the figures for
the load factors at Ncwfane, Wcstmin-
ster and Alstead and Vernon. He gave
number of figures concerning tcchui-
cal details and said that for an out
side party to build the line and obtain
a fair return on the investment it
would be necessary to charge as high
as 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
At this point Mr. Daley remarked
that under the charter Of the company
there was no compulsion to make a
guarantee. Mr.. Fits replied that the
company was not seeking to make mon
ey on this little project, but insisted
upon getting enough to pay interest
on the investment.
Mr. Daley discussed at some length
the claims of the petitioners as to the
meaning of the statute under which
the company is chartered and addsn
that the petitioners believed q 13-c<
. rate would pay interest on the inveSt-
ment.
Chairman Bacon announced that the
board ruled that the petitioners were
not required to furnish an absolute
guarantee, but that they would be ex-
pected to show the reasonable proha-
bility of the amount to be consumed
1t was ruled that the load factor as
evidence could be put in by the COM
pany when properly connected.
= IA l.t.
fed to distances, saying that it was
about one and three-quarters mile from
the power line Of the company to the
home of f. o. Downs, half a mile above
Dummerston Center.
Mr.. Daley said there were from -
to IS residents ready to take electricity
and that there were 81 houses within
the territory, and it was expected that
; more than 10 or IS eventually would
take it.
: The petitioners rested their case and
j. b. Mahoney was put ON the stand
as the first witness for the company.
He is the superintendent Of transmits
sion with headquarters at Shelburne
Falls, Mass and familiar with the
Vernon power plant and the Vernon
local distribution. Much of his evil
dence was technical showing the cost
of various articles that 60 to make up
the equipment for such a line and
Explanations of their necessity.
When Mr.. Mahoney had concluded
his testimony with reference TO the
load factor on the Vernon line, Mr..
Hadley of the Fall Mountain Co. told
of the load factors on the Westmin-
ster, Putney, Astead, y. H., and Sax
tons River lines and f. NJ. Adds, man.
ager of the local plant of the Twin
State Gas and Electric Co., told of the
load factor on the Ncwfanc line.
A recess was taken until after the
arrival Of the 1923 train in the after
noon when Mr.. Smith of the Keeuc, \.
H., company testified as to load fac
tors on small lines with which he was
familiar.
This evidence was introduced in sup
port of the contention of the company
that in the absence of "A guarantee to
use a specified amount of electricity
the only means of determining what
might he the consumption on the pro-
posed Dummerston line would be to
determine the load factor of other
similar lines. On the amount of cleo
tricity used would be based the price
to be charged by the company as fixed
by the public service commission.
Both sides will submit briefs.