Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1917-09-14
MAYOR HOME,
TALKS ON LIGHT
Continued from Page L

veloping the Big Falls power. With
headquarters at Ladysmith it will
mean much to Ladysmith.
We found on purchasing the Lady
smith Lighting Co. that an order
had been entered more than two
years ago by the Railroad Comms-
sion of Wisconsin commanding the
Lighting Company to install meters.
We asked the former owners why
the order had not been complied
with and were told that they had
indtalled meters as fast as they
could get money to do SO. AS a
public utility it is our duty to COM
ply with the orders of the Railroad
Commission and We Immediately
commenced to install meters in con-
formity with the law requiring us
to do so. In some instances it has
increased the rates paid by those
who had "a fiat rate; in other in
stances it has decreased the rate
but ecah one now is paying for the
electricity they use, one fellow is
not paying the other fellows bill.
It has cost us over $500 to Install
meters. We would gladly have
avoided this expense if we had not
been required to install them by the
ID 81 G Tn 2n61tlOn
to- this expense we have installed a
regulator which improves the power
and lighting efficiency Of the plant
very materially. We found that the
power which we were getting from
the dam here at Ladysmith WAS in
sufficient to meet the requirements
and render good service and have
recently invested in steam plant,
new extensions and other equipment
at an expense of over Eight Thou
sand Dollars. This investment was
made to take care of matters tenn
porarily until VIE could receive the
power from the Big Falls dam.
It takes several months in hand
ling a business to know just what
the expenses and income of the
business will average. We pur-
chased the plant on it's earning
capacity and have new schedule
of rates figured out by the Railroad
Commission which we before Sep
TENDER 1st submitted to the Coun-
Gil for their approval. This schedule
will make the rates fully as low for
all consumers as they were under
the flat rate system. We expected
the Council to approve these lower
rates so we could put them in effect
September 1st, but for some reason
they failed to act upon them. we
believe with proper handling Of the
company's business that the rates
can be made even lower than the
rates which we submitted to the
Council. The company so far has
invested every dollar of it's revenue
does not expect any dividend from
the Ladysmith Lighting co. to be
paid to the stockholders for some
time to come, its plans are to
place the Lighting Company on a
par as far as service is concerned
with any plant in the state OF WIS
|'consin
Furnishing electric light and power
is our business. We have had
great deal of experience and claim
that we can furnish light and power
more cheaply than any city officers
can who spend possibly one-tenth
of their time on city business and
nine-tenths ON their private business.
The city officers are frequently
changing, their service is not long
enough so that they can master a
business so technical and so highly
specialized as the manufacture and
sale of electricity.
The company makes this statement
of its plans for the future SO that
every citizen interested can act in
telhgently on the question Of the
city purchasing the lighting system.
The city owns and operates it's
own water works and this is a pub
Lie utility the same as the electric
light company. From the records Of
the water works one can determine
whether it is profitable for the city
to operate public utilities.