Area: Muinebeag
Started: August 1948
Finished: April 1949
Poles used: 1563
Line used (km): 136
Premises connected: 274
The figures above were sourced from our REO News magazine. Click interactive map to find out more on what the figures mean. The map above shows the area boundary and is from a digitised version of the original map used during the scheme.
A report about farm lighting in The REO News from September 1949 uses Muinebeag as an example of a farming community:
This digital scan from the REO News displays the following text:
"THAT LIGHT IN THE YARD
By far the most important single element in the successful electrification of any farm is its wiring system. No matter what equipment a farmer buys, the appliances cannot serve him effectively unless the farm wiring system allows them to be used where they are most needed. If a farmer fails to put a light in every outhouse where he may have to work during hours of darkness he is missing one of the great conveniences of electricity which he could have at little extra cost. If the wiring cost is the stumbling block, would it not be much better to have a light in the barn or cowhouse than in some little-used bedroom in the house. Another great amenity which the farmer can enjoy, again at little cost, is that of yard lighting. The writer is convinced that it is only ignorance of the convenience of a yard light that has retarded the number of these installations. The revenue from this service will be small, but farmers who have installed yard lights are delighted with the result. Very few of them grumble about the fixed charge. They are generally our best asset, very satisfied consumers.
These thoughts are prompted by the table shown later giving particulars of the installations and equipment installed in two selected areas. This data was collected by two A.Os. who visited the premises with the sales vans. Both areas would fall into the general classification of "good". The average valuation of the land is about 16/- per acre in Muinebeag and over £1 in Emly. Considering the very short time since the completion of construction, February and April of this year, the amount of domestic equipment installed is reasonably good. The number of "household" appliances is however many times the number of productive farmyard appliances. This is not a satisfactory feature of the development.
It is from the figures for wiring that the most fruitful lesson can be learned. In the two areas together, of the 414 houses visited, only 64 consumers have one light in an outhouse and only 36 have an outside light in the farmyard, while the total number of consumers having sockets in the out-offices is at the almost negligible figure of 11.
Emly is a milk producing area and Muinebeag a mixed farming area. It seems clear that many more farmers in these areas would find lighting in out-offices and yards a great boon. The same thing is undoubtedly true in most or all of the other areas supplied throughout the country.