Despite the 109 degree temperatures of last week in Oklahoma, power usage did not hit a record high.
At least that’s the word from OGE spokeswoman Kathleen O’Shea.
“While OGE did hit a system load high for this year on 7/20, it was considerably less than last year’s high,” she said in an email response to OK Energy Today. “We haven’t had record-setting highs since the summer of 2012 when we experiences almost three weeks of sustained temperatures above 100 degrees.”
A similar situation exists at Public Service Company of Oklahoma according to spokesman Stan Whiteford, Region Communications Manager.
“I’ve not been made aware of any record use. Certainly, demand is high. No doubt about it. But no records…yet,” he said in an email to OK Energy Today.
Whiteford explained that energy efficiency programs and new residential time of day pricing and load control options are helping in the reduction of peak demand.
PSO has nearly 20,000 customers signed up for its Power Hours program.
“That’s 20,000 customers who are shifting their load away from the peak demand time of day. In return, they receive a much lower rate for their off-peak usage,” added Whiteford. “And many of those customers are also signed up for direct load control,which allows us to adjust their thermostats up to 4 degrees for a few hours on days when we call a peak event.”
No records reported at the Southwest Power Pool either. The all-time peak was in July 2016 but some power companies in Texas have reported record usage in the past few weeks.