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By Chelsea Hadaway
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Utility companies across the state experienced record levels of peak electricity demand early Monday morning.
Santee Cooper, S.C. Electric & Gas and Progress Energy Carolinas all set peak demand records as temperatures dipped to the likes of 22 degrees in Charleston, 14 in Florence and 15 in Columbia, according to National Weather Service data.
Monday morning temperatures “were the coldest of the season in many areas of the state, and because it is a weekday, people were up early getting ready for work and school, pushing the demand up,” Bill McCall, Santee Cooper executive vice president and chief operating officer, said that afternoon.
Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric and water utility, hit a record 5,668 megawatts between 7 and 8 a.m. Monday. This broke the previous record of 5,650 MW, set Jan. 4, 2008. Santee Cooper provides electricity for 2 million South Carolinians.
SCE&G hit a winter record at 4,720 MW at the end of the 8 a.m. hour. It broke the previous winter demand record of 4,577 MW, set in January 2008. SCE&G has 654,000 electricity customers, mainly in central and southern South Carolina.
Progress Energy, which serves 1.5 million customers in North and South Carolina, experienced demand of 12,504 MW between 7 and 8 a.m. This broke its prior winter record of 12,142 MW set Feb. 6, 2007. The utility’s overall peak demand record was set in August 2007 at 12,656 MW.
Progress Energy is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., and mainly serves northeastern South Carolina and central and southern North Carolina.
“We do not expect problems in meeting our customers’ demand for electricity, but we encourage customers to learn more about how they can use energy wisely and efficiently,” said Lloyd Yates, CEO and president of Progress Energy Carolinas.
Published Jan. 13, 2010
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