Childers Electricity Supply

The Electricity Supply Co. of Childers Pty Ltd inaugurated the supply in 1915.

Arrangements were underway for Isis Shire Council to purchase the assets of the company and operate the electricity undertakings from 1 January 1940. The Electrical Engineer was Mr. W. Sorrensen and the Consulting Engineer was Mr. J. S. Just.

The plant included:
One 95-h.p. Kynoch suction gas engine driving a 50-kw Crompton generator;
One 77-h.p. Crossley suction gas engine driving a 30-kw E.C.C. generator;
One 42-h.p. Hornsby suction gas engine driving a 20-kw G.E.C. generator;
One 22-h.p. Crossley suction gas engine driving a 10-kw G.E.C. generator.

The distribution system operated on 220 volts d.c. and the reticulated mileage at that time spanned eight and a quarter miles. There were 274 consumers out of a population of 1,200 in the supply area.

The tariff for electric light was one shilling and three-pence to nine-pence per unit depending on usage. There was a twenty per cent discount if the usage exceeded 100 units. Power was sold at nine-pence and three-pence per unit with substantial savings for consumption of more than 200 units. 

(Source: Tait’s Electrical Director, 1939-1940, p.179. QEM Archive)