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Letter to the editor

As heat surges, utilities ask customers to cool it

By ASJYLYN LODER, Times Staff Writer
Published August 22, 2007

High temperatures forecast for today triggered an electric power advisory from the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council on Tuesday, a day after two local utilities reported new records for peak power demand.

Florida will have enough power, even if the largest power plant in the state were to unexpectedly fail, said Sarah Rogers, president and CEO of the council, a Tampa-based nonprofit dedicated to assuring the reliability and adequacy of the state's bulk electricity supply.

The advisory isn't unusual, especially in the hot summer months, Rogers said. Utilities are advised to avoid any noncritical maintenance, so that all of their power is available. And Floridians are asked to curb electricity use during peak demand, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at (813) 225-3117 or aloder@sptimes.com.

By the numbers 

4,352: Peak customer demand in megawatt hours of electricity reported by Tampa Electric at about 5:09 p.m. Monday.

4,256: Previous record of megawatt hours set Aug. 8.

660,000: Number of Tampa Electric customers. The utility has a capacity of 4,686 megawatts.

9,671: High of megawatt hours reached by Progress Energy Florida, based in St. Petersburg, on Monday between 4 and 5 p.m.

9,406: Previous record of megawatt hours set Aug. 16, 2005.

1.7-million: Number of Progress customers. The utility has a capacity of more than 9,000 megawatts.

[Last modified August 21, 2007, 23:39:55]