People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1897 — Municipal Electricity. [ARTICLE]

Municipal Electricity.

Logansport Lighting Plant a Profitable Venture.

Frdm The Logansport Advance. To each one of our exchanges to-day we send a marked copy of the Advance containing the yearly report of the electric light plant committee, upon which we will make no further comment, as the report shows municipal ownership to be a success beyond a question. There is not a city in the union but should own its own lighting j plant. The only mistake Logan- j sport made was in not comprehending the magnitude of the work. The plant at the commencement was too small, which has been enlarged twice within two years to meet the demands of the public. Many hundreds j of dollars could have been saved had the first plant been ten times the size of the first experiment. To the honorable mayor and! members of the city council: Your electric light committee j in submitting to you the second j annual report of the electric light, i clerk, beg leave to submit the following deductions: Very early in the year it be came apparent to the electric light committee that it would be' necessary to add very materially to the capacity of the plant in order to enable the department] to meet the rapidiy increasing j demand for light. This want! was made known to the council and authority was given to your committee to purchase a 240 horsepower engine, one eighty light arc dynamo and one eighteen hundred light incandescent dynamo. These machines, together with the construction of the necessary lines of installing the necessary transformers and meters, cost the de i partment $14,116,27. We paid j during the year on the Standard ; Electric Company contract an account of interest (that had not i been previously charged to the . construction account) $1,050. Adding these accounts to $69,- j 120.91, the cost of the plant up j to January 1, 1896, makes the I total cost of the plant up to j January 1,1897, $84,287.18. The | plant now has in engine capacity j six hundred and eighty horse power and four hnndred and fifty horse power in water wheels. We have arc dynamos capacity for two hundred and sixty arc lights of 2,000 candle power each, and incandescent dynamo for fifty-six hundred lights of sixteen candle power each. One year ago we had forty-five hundred incandescent lights connected up. We now have eightyfive huudred and eleven; showing an increase during the year of four thousand and eleven lights. Our total cash income for 1895 was $6,211.49, our total cash income for 1896 was $13,550.17, showing that our income from private lighting has more than doubled during the year just past. In addition to our income from private lighting, the department is entitled to a credit of $13,214.70 for lighting the public streets, city offices, engine houses, water works and police headquarters; making the total earnings of the plant $26,744.87. It will be noticed that while we have eight thousand incandescent lights connected up, we only have dynamo capacity for fifty-six hundred lights. This without some qualification would appear that

Jwe were overtaxing the ma‘ \ chinery, which is not the case, ias in the resident districts, not (over one-fifth the lights connected up are actually burning. !We now have about forty-two .hundred lights burning each j night, leaving us a reserve capacity of about fourteen hundred lights. The operating expenses of the entire plant for the year is sll,275.57. In this item is included : office stationery and $640.10 paid for incandescent lamps which were sold to the. city’s patrons and credited to our casu income. It is a very plain case now* tiiat this venture will be a very profit - able one to the city. In the Opinion of your committee in two years from this time, the maximum eanaeify wiii !.»•• reached, and as ter that time the expense for betterment and extensions will oe ligut, the price for lighting to. consumers may | then be reduced. This can be done, notwithstanding the fact ! that our present rate is as low, iif not lower, than in any city in the United States. Respectfully submitted, George Haigh, W. H. Kenney, S. B. Boyer. Electric Light Committee.