Heresy in Power

In 1967, when Charles F. Luce became chairman of New York's huge Consolidated Edison Co., his first priority seemed clear. Since the average New Yorker then used only half as much electricity as the average American, Luce yearned to boost consumption--and did. But last week he told a startled Manhattan audience: "The wisdom of three years ago is the idiocy of today." Instead of trying to increase consumption, he now wants to decrease it.

Luce is regarded as one of the most socially responsible leaders in the utility business. He is also a realist. Crippled by equipment breakdowns. Con Ed has been forced to cut voltage in controlled "brownouts" for the past two summers. Meantime, New Yorkers demand ever more power. Con Ed is all but helpless to supply it, because conservationists have won assorted court orders delaying the company's proposed new plants. They argue that power generation also generates pollution--and now Luce has publicly agreed with them.

As a long-term solution, Luce last week suggested a new federal excise tax of "perhaps 1%" on electric bills to speed new ways of generating power compatible with the environment. Until that luminous day comes, Luce is prepared to take an antigrowth position that other utility men might consider heresy. Urging New Yorkers to turn off unnecessary lights and appliances, he raises "the serious question of whether we ought to be promoting any use of electricity."

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