Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-17
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
 The Gas and Electric Department.

MT. EQ1tOr: ReIerrlnS to 4ClLlZeL $ l letter, "The City Meeting dated March 18th, I was at the city meet ing and do not think Citizen looks at the matter in a broad minded way, A municipal plant like the gas and cleo tric department is not a commercial manufacturing concern in the sense that it makes profit for it's stock holders; the gas and electric depart ment gives back it's profits in the form of lower rates, to it's consumers. The rate in Norwich for light is 10c per k. ". hour. In New London operated
 by private company, it is 13c, 30 per cent. more. Assuming Norwich had a private company with the same rate. Citizen can find out how much
 this private company would have made after paying taxes by taking the money paid in a year by the light customers now, and multiplying by 30-100 and substracting the amount of taxes which would have been paid in | a year to the city by this private company. In the case of a private i company the amount paid for taxes, 1 or more than this amount if the pri- vate company makes profit, is paid l by the consumers of gas and cleo tricity alone by paying a higher rate. In the case of a municipal
 plant the amount of the taxes a pri- | vate company would have paid is l paid by all the tax payers pro rata, as l total of taxes is decreased by that
 amount. MT. Jensen's statement that | the property of the gas and electric F department could be sold for enough
 to pay all indebtedness and leave a I surplus and MT. Shea's statement that
 by May 1st according to, the present | rate the department would take in
 enough money to pay all bills and 1 show a profit so taxpayers would not have to make good any deficit, should
 remove all worry as to financial con- :! dition of the plant.
 I I could not understand why MT. ! Morin was so insistent in knowing the price per k. W. hour as I could not figure what he would or could do
 with it. after getting it. If he had
 electrical energy to sell the city he
 might be interested to know the cost
 at the switchboard so he could make
 a price just under the cost to the city to make it eff he could make it
 cheaper) so as to get the most profit : to himself and still get. the business
 IT he wanted the price per k. W. hour at consumers meters he would have to know what amount each class o1
 customers took, the hours customers took energy, his demand, etc, and
 WoutO nave to RnOW complete char acteristics of lines and apparatus an6 : would then have to have the figure computed by an electrical expert tc be of any value. MT. Morin did not seem to have a clear conception ot
 what a municipal electric plant is I how it functions and in what man. ner it differs from a private com. pany, and the reasons for this differ ence. Mir. Shea told him the gas anS : electrical department could not b, g directly compared to private man 7 ufacturing company as the naunicipa r plant was bound by rules, regulation e and bylaws for the benefit of th,
 public, which a private plant was not
 Also the aims and policies of the tw,
 are different as explained in the frs
 paragraph.
 5 Regarding to Citizens reference f
 the $60,000 expert have not seen tn 1 contract myself but have talked wit e an engineer who has and he said e was fair and common form of con
 tract between consulting engineer
 and operating companies. He esti S mated that the amount paid on con tract was only fraction of s6(l 0ol e from his knowledge of what .neJ o work was done and the terms of ii
 contract. ,...-s@~
 ANOTHER CITIZEN, |, Norwich March 16 1o20