Danville Utilities is requesting that its electric customers curtail usage Tuesday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. each day because of a peak alert issued by its wholesale power supplier.
A peak alert is issued in summer months when demand for electricity across the regional power grid that serves Danville is projected to be higher than usual because of higher than normal temperatures.
Plenty of power will be available, but demand could be at its highest point of the year. These high load periods are the electric utility industry’s equivalent of rush-hour traffic. Transmission and generation capacity charges for Danville and other utilities are set, in part, during these periods of high demand. With each added megawatt used, utilities are billed thousands of dollars in peaking charges.
Danville buys power on the open market and is part of the PJM grid, or the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland Electric Regional Transmission Operator. Temperatures this week in most communities across this region are expected to range from the upper 80s to the upper 90s.
In Danville, a high of 95 is forecast on both Tuesday and Wednesday, 91 on Thursday, and 96 on Friday.
PJM bases its generation capacity charges on the five highest peak usage hours from June through September. Peak usage in the summer likely will occur on hot and humid weekday afternoons when air conditioners are working extra hard to cool homes and workplaces.
In addition to generation capacity charges, Danville and other utilities incur added transmission costs during periods of peak demand. Danville’s transmission provider is American Electric Power (AEP). AEP bases its transmission charges on the highest peak usage hour in the year.
American Municipal Power, the wholesale power supplier for Danville and more than 130 other members in five states, monitors the power grid and issues peak alerts as needed.
Customers can take simple conservation steps during peak periods:
- Shut off lights when not needed,
- Unplug small appliances and electric chargers (especially those with small lights),
- Set your air conditioner thermostat up 5 degrees and use fans,
- Run the dishwasher and do laundry and other household chores requiring electricity during hours other than the peak hours,
- Turn off televisions, computers, radios and other electronic devices when not being used.