Imperial Valley press., 1935-06-03

NtI9 lilJlc QlllcItllCG III Mlldb yOu
paid for power to light your home
and cook your meals. Furthermore,
the power company under no man
ner can guarantee rates at which
they will sell the power to the con-
sumer, and a contract endeavoring
to so fix rates could be voided at
any time, because under the law the
power company is entitled to earn
profit on its entire investment,
and if necessary to increase rates
to do so, the railroad commission
must by law permit the power COM
pany to raise its rates regardless of
any contract. Don't be misled by
any offers made by the power COM
pany along these lines, the district
had such an experience when it
equipped electrically, the big suction
dredges at Andrade but won't take
the time to discuss it now
This brings us down to the point;
namely, that the money in the pow
er business is not made in the de-
velopment and wholesale of the
power but in the distribution to
the individual consumer. Any pow
er man can tell you this. That is
why the power companies are so
determined to keep the people from
distributing power. The power COM
panies are willing to buy power
wholesale from plants built by the
government, or by the people, but
they will move heaven and earth to
see that the distribution of the pow
er is kept in their own hands.
If the people of Imperial Valley
are to realize the full returns from
All-American canal power, they
must by all means distribute as we'll
as develop that power. Many COM
munities in California are buying
power wholesale from the power
companies and distributing it to
their own people at rates lower than
those charged by the power COM
pany, and yet making very good
return to apply on taxes. Why can
they do this? 1t is because of the
reason have Just mentioned and
which I am going to repeat in order
to emphasize it; the money in the
power business is in the distribution
of the power to the consumer.
Discusses Power Rates
In Mr. Vests talk we heard lot
about rates and it was limited that
there might be reductions in the
future. It is, therefore, proper to
ask what has been our experience
in this regard in the past Do you
realize that the rates of the South
ern Sierras Power company were on
the increase up to the time the dis
trict proposed to develop power on
it's own canals in 1927? Those of
you who were here between 1920
and 1927 remember the effort put
forth by the people to stop the con-
tinued increases in rates put into
effect by the power company Final
ly, upon demand of the farm
bureau and business groups in the
valley, the district worked out a
plan for starting power develop
ment and distribution. AT that very
time the railroad commission was
holding hearings on an application
of the power company, which, had
it been approved, would have re-
suited in a further substantial in
crease in power rates.
20 show the attitude of the pow
er company, let me quote from MI.
Vests testimony in that case,
when, after trying to justify the
rate increases and having been
asked how the people could stand
the increases, he said;
IF it should develop that it is
not practicable for any reason to
collect those rates, those rates are
more than the traffic will bear, to
use an old expression, why some OF
those rates would come down very
rapidly, the company would be
forced to bring them down."
, This, mind you, was after the
power company had completed its
new lines for standby and no
further large investments were i'm
mediately contemplated.
l wish had time to go into this
case in detail as it would appear
in view of what followed.
When the power company saw that
the district meant business in re-
gard to developing power, it not
only dropped the application for an
increase in rates, but in the next
few months made three reductions,
which, although totaling only about
Is per cent, nevertheless, were made
in the face of voluminous testimony
put on by the power company to
prove that an increase just had to
be made.
Also you will recall that prior to
that time the power company had
made virtually no extensions into
the rural areas and the few that
were made were at the expense OF
the consumer. Then, all of a sud-
den, there was lot of activity in
line extensions and certain people
who had been waiting for power for
years, because they did not have
the money to advance to the pow
er company for the lines, were serv-
ed at no cost to themselves, and in
some cases where the power COM
pany had been demanding that the
user install electrical appliances,
such as stoves and water heaters,
had lines built to their farm for
only lights.
Due to a number of circumstances,
the enactment OF the
canyon project act provid-
ing for the construction of the ALI