Will Your Electricity Hold Up Through the Heat?

July 18, 2006 — -- This week's oppressive heat wave triggered record temperatures across the country and led to record use of electricity.

Despite the enormous demands on the nation's electric supply to run air conditioners, the power plants, the transmission lines, and the power grids met Monday's demand and were expected to meet today's potentially record-setting electric needs.

Stan Johnson with the North American Reliability Council said that the heat wave had led to record electricity use across North America.

"It's unusual that it's not often we see every part of North America affected by a heat wave. The norm is part of the country. We are seeing it from coast to coast -- all the way up into Canada. Virtually every power poll and electric company in North America is near or at record usage."

He acknowledged that "things are tight" but said, "Right now, the system is holding up very well. There is adequate capacity on the generating plants and the transmission system to meet the forecast of the customers."

PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for 51 million people in 13 states and Washington, D.C., from Delaware to Kentucky to Illinois reported a new record for electricity use was set Monday at 5 p.m. The previous record was set on July 26, 2005.

PJM's Ray Dotter expects energy use to be less today in the Midwest, while in New Jersey south to Richmond, Va., demand could surpass Monday. Overall, he said PJM believed usage would be lower today, so no special steps would be required to keep the electricity flowing.

In California, the California ISO, the not-for-profit organization that manages the flow electricity in the state, reported a new record of 46,561 megawatts used at 2:41 p.m. PT. The previous record was set during the same week last year.

"Everything went right yesterday [Monday]," spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle said.

McCorkle said that new records could be set today and that the biggest concern would be toward the end of the week when there could be equipment failures after working at full or near capacity.

She said that despite the record set Monday, the state did not announce a "stage one" alert, which would mean dipping into operating reserves.

Another area of concern are the forest fires in Southern California that could damage transmission lines.