The Ward County independent., 1921-10-06
G. ID. SHAFT WRITES M
ABOUT ELECTRIC RATES
Editor of The Independent,
Minot, N, ID,

$54 $4,000 in 192O", thought perhaps
the other side of this case might be
Of interest to your readers. Space
permitted l will submit few obser.
vations.
Eighteen months ago appeared be.
fore the State Railroad Commission.
ers Board at Bismarck and presented
data secured from various towns thru
the northwest with the idea Of con.
vincing said board that Minot was
paying much higher rate than was
justified considering the fact that the
fuel-the main bill of expense in this
line--was much less here than in any
of the cities quoted, and also, that in.
as-much as the telephone bushes was
carried on in the same buildings un.
der the same management, necessitat.
ing of course a share of the overhead
expenses charged to the other depart
n1ent that the profits in this depart
ment should be considered when figur-
ing the profits or losses of this plant
This proposition was turned down and
only evidence accepted that would
havea bearing on the light, power
and heat.
The data l presented included fig
ures from the following cities: De-
troit, MINI, maximum rate on light,
9 cents per K. w., heat so cents per
one thousand pounds. Grafton, N. D.
maximum rate for lights IL cents
per X. w., minimum rate 3k cents;
meter rate so cents. Sebeth, Kan.
maximum for light Z cents, meter rate
60 cents. Burlington, Ind, maximum
for light 10 cents X. w. Alexander,
Mimi, lights 10 cents, heat 60 cents
per 1000 pounds. Valley City, N. D.,
lights maximum rate 10 cents, heat rs
cents, and the engineer, while was
there told me they bought most Of
their coal at the mines near Minot.
Paying of course, the extra freight.
Mr.. Dupuis, the chairman interrupt
ed and said, 81 understand that is a
municipal owned plant, as he had
brought up this question once before,
while I was on the stand. then stat
ed that l failed to see the point and
reminded them that years back /
had advocated a municipal plant for
Minot and at that time also present
ed the council with a petition signed
by nearly every business man in the
city requesting said council to re-ors
ganize the water plant and retain it
as municipal owned plant. The
power and light company at that time
used not little newspaper space en-
deavoring to prove that such plants
were never profitable owing to the
inefficiency Of management. Now,
Mr.. Chairman, they seem to think it
unfair to be compared to municipal
owned plants.
Let me digress a little here and
state that our water plant, under the
efficient management of Commission
err Bratsberg, is showing good profit
monthly Notwithstanding the fact that
the men working at the plant receive
considerable higher wages than does
similar labor employed by the, N. S,
P. Co.
Again-Bismarck, N. D., maximum
rate for light II cents, heat go cents.
Virginia City, Mimi. maximum rate
for lights 6 cents, meter rates 60
cents. s,-
Compare the rates above stated and
you will find Minot rates on light
heat and power are from Is to 80
percent higher and if phone rates were
considered our rates. are fully 50 per
cent higher.
We maintain that if there is a loss
as stated it is owing entirely to poor
management in endeavoring to supply
city of eleven thousand and several
small towns adjacent with an out-of-
date plant originally built for a city
Of less than five thousand. With
steam pipes, ETC., that leak nearly SO
percent of steam for heat during the
winter months They stated at that
hearing that the expenses in keeping
up repairs amounted to over $4,000
in six months.
Surely this is question that should
interest the Commercial Club, for un-
less the citizens of Minot make q
united effort to get fair treatment
they can figure on rates being boost
ed every little while, for corpora
ton will always push to the limit in
the way of swelling profits.
G.. D. SHAFT.
P. ST. notice in their figures they
give the valuation of the plant at
1861, ,201.00 or 1926, ,975.00 more than
does the engineer engaged by the
board. Of course, the reason is oh
vious, but am wondering what they
would say if our assessor should use
those figures in compiling their taxes
for next year. &C. D. s.