you approximate to the most economical conditions of production, and
the lower you can afford to sell your current. Take, for instance, the
summer and winter curves of the Chicago Edison company. The curve of
December 20, 1897, shows a load factor of about 48 per cent.; the
curve of May 2, 1898, shows a load factor of nearly 60 per cent. Now,
if we were able in Chicago to get business of such a character as
would give us a curve of the same characteristics in December as the
curve we get in May; or, in other words, if we could improve our load
factor, our interest cost would be reduced, an effect would be
produced upon the other items going to make up the cost of current,
and we probably could make more money out of our customers at a lower
price per unit than we get from them now.

Many schemes are employed for improving the load factor, or, in other
words, to encourage a long use of central station product. Some
companies adopt a plan of allowing certain stated discounts, provided
the income per month of each lamp connected exceeds a given sum. The
objection to this is that it limits the number of lamps connected.
Other companies have what is known as the two-rate scheme, charging
one rate for electricity used during certain hours of the day and a
lower rate for electricity used during the balance of the day, using a
meter with two dials for this purpose. Other companies use an
instrument which registers the maximum demand for the month, and the
excess over the equivalent of a certain specified number of hours
monthly in use of the maximum demand is sold at greatly reduced price.
The last scheme would seem particularly equitable, as it results in
what is practically an automatic scale of discounts based on the
average load factor of the customers. It does not seem to be just that
a man who only uses your investment say 100 hours a year should be
able to buy your product at precisely the same price as the man who