The communique issued by ihe Council on minimum power and gae charges reads:
The Council has consideration the imposed by the recently had under minimum charges hanghai Power Company and the Si anghai Gas Ca, Lid.
The Power Company. whilst s ing "that from the point of view of economies and tow void discrimin&- tion minimum charges are necessary to compensate equitably for the capital invested and expenses incurred in maintaining a service which is not adequately used, agreed that it was not easy to defend such charges at a time when the public is being urged to reduce consumption of electri The company accordingly suggested that minimum charges other than for bulk supply be tempo suspended during the pre ent fuel emergency despite the loss in revenue which would re: ult The Gas Company favoured rote tion of the minimum charges since their abolition would result in a substantial reduction in revenue which would require to be made up by increase in the surcharge. The company stated that the high' surcharge paid by gas consumer: is due to th increased use of expensive imported coal and oil necessitated largely as a result of a 57 per cent. morea in the number of consumers ers since 1937, These new consumers were stated to have largely changed from the use of coal. charcoal and oil to gas, and a considerable proportion of them use less tha 150 units of gas per month. The company's old established consumers are thus being penalized in order to meet the temporary Tequirements of a large number of new consumers who in all probability will continue to use gas in place of other fuel only as long as it is cheaper to do so. The average domestic consumer uses 422 units a month and on this basis the minimum of 150 units does not appear excessive.
In considering this matter the Public Utilities Committee noted that the two companies were in entirely different positions. Owing to the adequacy of its supplies the Power Company was appealing to consumers not subject to the restriction scheme to reduce consumption voluntarily, while the Gas Company was merely attempting to ensure that consumption did not exceed last years figure, Furthermore. domestic consumption. in connection with which most complaints against minimum charges are made, accounts for only a small proportion of the Power Company's output as compared with approximately 70 per cent, of the Gas Company's output.
The Committee considered that as a matter of principle minimum charges should be retained since if a consumer makes less than economic use of a service he should bear a fair proportion of the capital charges and expenses involved in providing that service. In order however not to discourage reduction of consumption it was considered that the minimum charges should be reduced by the same percentage b; which reduction of consumption was being attempted.
Tt was accordingly decided to recommend that the minimum charges levied by the Power Company be reduced to 70 per cent. of the present charges, to be further adjusted according fö circumstances, and that the minimum charges levied by the Gas Company be retained unless a reduction in consumption enforced in which event the minimum charges ama We eereeenendimele redueed. sistance put up by bim resulted in ge oil dripping down his clothes end air The Committee's recommendation was endorsed by the Council at its meeting on May 28
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.