Green Country Electricity Use Nears Record High

Jamie McGriff, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Wednesday will be the 24th day this summer the temperature has hit 100 degrees and that has people across Green Country cranking up the AC.

Public Service of Oklahoma says definitely noticed, seeing high usage across its power grid. The grid is not stressed, but PSO says compared to this time last year, it's seen a 15 percent increase in usage.

What should customers expect with another week of triple digits on the way?

PSO says we're a couple megawatts shy of tying the all-time record peak demand. That all-time record was set back on August 4th of 2008 with 42-hundred megawatts

Customers don't have to worry about any kind of rolling blackouts or brown-outs. PSO plans ahead for certain times of the year when there's an expected peak usage.

From that planning, it will generate more electricity for customers. Still, customers are being asked to conserve energy where they can.

Turning your thermostat up a few degrees will help a lot.

Stan Whiteford, spokesman for PSO, says cost is the motivation behind why people are asked to conserve energy.

"So we don't have to build additional generation because that's where the money comes in, but it's not an issue of people are going to use too much electricity and that we're going to run out," Whiteford said. 

Whiteford couldn't say how much more people would pay for their electricity bills this summer.