Daily Kennebec journal., 1918-05-13
Water Powers q !
In Maine
AovERTlsEmsNrs

Is il necessary for the adv.
Gates Of the development ',
water powers by the St,,. y y
make sweeping statement, ws;.a
ass in a large neasurs u,,.
and clearly misleading in ,,
to maintain their position q, ~
Water Power question,
In the first place the d.v.,.
nsnt at Rumford Falls wa, Y,
an entirely new dsve1pn,m.. W.
which made the cost lower ,s
il would otherwise hav. h.. M
and in the second place III. m ~.
Of development at RumfSrd e,'' a
10 not fair illustration ,..
which to make comparison =. 4
At Runford Falls there il, w,,
fall Of one hundred feet and :.
kumford Falls the cost of !.
veioPment is cheaper than il 81
other power development ear !,
the Mississippi River, exe.o,i.. Z
at Niagara; moreover. tn. ,s
was MORE THAN ONE Mn N" n
LION DOLLARS. how na..
more was not stated and u.
paper quoted was not wsrr,,,..
in assuming that it was bu. +.
tie above that sum. But On N. s
basis stated the development ;, s
Rumford Falls presents o,s.. Il
phases Of the question which :. E
ter into the cost Of developm.. +
Fer example. tho Rumford FL Is
Power Co.. owing to the eIaas II
customers it serves is prscti.,
required to develop more thans, Is
amount. Of PRIMARY DOW, B
available as Z safeguard ap,iw 4
accidents, thereby reducing IN 4
cost per horse power inst,Is
as against the power earnim
revenue, in proportion to the e..
cess cefe'oped.
A statement that cannot ,u..
eessfuIIy be eontreverted is thu
the average cost per water how
pe~er in Maine is not less than
$4,000 exclusive Of the cos. .I
transmission and distribu..r
A. an example, tho area,
Aziseehos Dam cost one million
dollars and the amount Of power
available at that dam IL n.
veloped for power purposes ii
stated to be 7600 horse power !
that the cost without FLUNG.
HEAD GATES. or ELEcTHa
EQUIPMENT is still $13t.m ~
horse power.
Again the impression is siua
that because power may be gra
Grated comparatively cheap u
one point that the consumer I
paying IN exorbitan. price ~
lighting his house or for US. d
power. Why should not the IL
sue be met in a fair spirit?
The writer Of the article quote
must know that it costs Iars
sums Of money to transmit ee
trie current from its source to tn1
place Of use; that It requires pcaI
lines, transformers, service lines
meters. ETC.; that the distributed
to the customers is one Of N,I
largest items Of cost ard also dl
maintenance; that there is also /,
loss Of power between the point
Of generation and the meter d
the consumer; that tho labor COT
is largely ehareeabIe to the dis
tribution system.
Why does the writer Of IN.
editorial dodge the fact that
power that is sold on a censtar.
basis OF twenty-four hours in the
day and on 312 or 1865 days in The
year, is a very different mater
from power that is sold to a
householder for lighting pur'
poses or to a user of . motor Il"
. few hours day. and where The
amount used is but a small frat
tien Of what the service corpora
tion is obliged to be ready to
furnish at any time?
Before making statement
charging Persons who are de.
veIeping electric power and Try
ing to meet the needs of the pub
lie with illegally over charsr'
the public, why not investisss
what a power factor means, whf
the difference is between primarI
and secondary power and few
other facts about which these
people who develop water powers
have to inform themselves before
they can embark on tho enter
prise.
10 this paper quoted shove w'n'
ing to commit the people Of the
State Of Maine to undertake a
development costing million. 1"
dollars on the amount Of info"
nation possessed on this subject
40 shown by tho editorial cited