Backup generators were fired up, thermostats were turned to toasty and lights were dimmed across Snohomish County on Monday.
After twice in four days setting new records for summer electricity use, Snohomish County PUD sent out an urgent request asking its biggest electricity users to cut their consumption.
More than 30 businesses and government agencies complied, reducing the PUD’s electricity demand by about 10 megawatts, or enough for 6,000 homes.
Utilities in Washington state aren’t in danger of running out of electricity, but the PUD, Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy are asking the public to cut their use of electricity to make sure there aren’t any shortages.
“Everybody is on their toes and concerned, but we’re not to a situation where California is yet,” said Steve Klein, the PUD’s general manager. “That’s still no reason to be complacent.”
A searing heat wave has California on the verge of forcibly shutting off electricity to make up for an electricity shortfall. The state has had hundreds of unplanned outages in recent days and thousands of businesses have already been asked to shut down operations for hours at a time.
Typically the Northwest has a power surplus in summer because of its moderate weather, so it exports electricity to California.
But now, with both states in the middle of a heat wave, conditions are tough.
“We’re asking for voluntary reduction in power use,” Klein said. “We have a number of our customers who have stepped up and met that challenge.”
Wireless phone company T-Mobile switched to generator power at its Snohomish County location for much of the afternoon Monday at the request of the PUD, spokesman Graham Crow said.
At the Snohomish County campus, extra fax and copy machines were turned off, as were lights in offices that have windows. Some of the lights in the County Council foyer were dimmed, too.
“Things are a little dimmer, but we all want to do our part,” said Donna Ambrose, spokeswoman for County Executive Aaron Reardon.
Working without lights in her office was a little awkward, she said, but better than total blackouts for everyone.
“We don’t want to see any service disruptions,” she said.
At Kimberly-Clark’s Everett paper and pulp mill, several energy-intensive pieces of machinery were not running on Monday, either because they were not needed or because they were being maintained, said Scott Helker, mill manager.
Near-record temperatures in the 80s and 90s over the past five days have pushed Snohomish County’s electricity use to record levels.
At their peak on Monday, the PUD’s 300,000 customers were using 845 megawatts of electricity, a new summertime record. The peak use of 819 megawatts on Friday had already surpassed the old record of 799 megawatts set in August 2005. One megawatt is enough power for 600 homes.
Sunny skies but cooler weather is forecast this week as temperatures begin to normalize, according to the National Weather Service.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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