The recent stretch of much-colder-than-normal temperatures, combined with a pair of winter storms, is leading to unprecedented demand on power grids in Southeast Missouri and across the Midwest.
Ozark Border Electric Cooperative has issued a peak alert effective through Friday and is asking members to reduce the use of electricity as much as possible to ease stress on the power grid.
David Schremp, the general manager of Ozark Border, said that the “unbelievable weather” is what is fueling the recent spike in usage. He said that electrical cooperatives build their grids for worst-case usage scenarios and that Ozark Border passed that on Saturday.
“We have not had winter weather like this in years,” Schremp said. “We have had low temperatures that got into the single digits or teens, but to stay there for a week (or more) at a time, we have not seen it in decades. … All the electrical utilities are interconnected in some form or fashion, and there is only so much that you can move across these systems.”
Ozark Border is not alone in dealing with peak usage straining its electrical grid. The Southwestern Power Administration, of which Municipal Utilities in Poplar Bluff is a member, is asking people to conserve power through Wednesday. Many areas are seeing peak or near peak power usage.
“Our all-time peak power usage is 84 megawatts. That was six or seven years ago. It would have been a summer peak,” said Bill Bach, general manager of Municipal Utilities. “(Sunday) we were around 75, 76 (megawatts).”
Bach did say that while energy usage was up, equipment has gotten more efficient and that power companies are not seeing the peaks we used to. He added that factory closures during the winter weather are also helping reduce the power needs for the city.
Poplar Bluff is running four of five generating units at the city’s plant. The units are currently running diesel fuel and producing about 20 megawatts
“We’ve had isolated outages. Some fuses melted on some line transformers due to being overloaded,” Bach said.
The isolated outages have been repaired quickly, he said.
Thus far, Schremp said that Ozark Border has had no outages. He hopes to keep it that way.
“We have been very fortunate so far,” Schremp said. “There have been some blinks, but we are trying to pre-emptive.”
Utility companies serving Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri have also issued pleas for customers to conserve power as temperatures plummeted and demand for energy soared across the Plains.
“Much as it does in summer, high demand can put additional strain on our system,” a message from Omaha Public Power District to customers read. “We are seeing similar effects now, only this time with record cold instead of heat.”
In addition, Texas officials initiated rolling power outages in that state Monday morning as a winter storm dropped snow, ice and temperatures.
Ozark Border has asked its customers to reduce the amount of electricity used during this cold snap. Some of the ways that they have asked customers to do that are:
• Turn and keep the thermostat down 2-3 degrees;
• Minimize the use of major appliances;
• Use space heaters sparingly;
• Seal around drafty doors and windows;
• Change furnace filters to help them run more efficiently;
• Turn down thermostats on electric water heaters;
• Turn off lights and unplug small appliances when not in use.
Ozark Border members can also access the SmartHub application to monitor their energy use.
---
The Associated Press provided some of the information for this story.