Heat Increases Power Demand, But Not To Record Levels

The heat wave that currently has the Tennessee Valley in its clutches, has people’s electric meters spinning.  However, according to the Tennessee Valley Authority, we haven’t yet reached record demand levels.

Scott Brooks, a spokesperson for TVA, says Friday afternoon the peak demand came at 4pm Central, with 31,099 megawatts of power being used.   He says at that time the average temperature across the TVA area was 104 degrees.

Brooks says the record demand came in August of 2007 with a peak usage of 33,500 megawatts.  During that period, North Alabama had 14 days in a row of temperatures of more than 100 degrees.