Heat Wave has Power Grid Under Fire

As simmeringly high temperatures spread across the country this week, electrical companies — including ComEd — are preparing for an uptick in power usage.

Weather experts predict this heat wave to last longer and stretch farther than typical heat waves, according to an Associated Press article about the heat's stress on the national power grid, published on Wednesday. This means increased pressure on electrical companies to provide more energy for air conditioning. 

Earlier:

ComEd's Current Status

Commonwealth Edison said on Thursday that it is prepared to handle any developing issues in the Chicago area.

"Currently our system is performing well – we’re not seeing significant usage or issues on the system at this point," said Arlana Johnson, a spokesperson for ComEd. "We will continue to closely monitor conditions around the clock."

Johnson said that ComEd has increased their staff numbers just in case.

The company has had a particularly busy summer season.

"With , customers have experienced more than 1.6 million storm-related outages thus far," Johnson said. "This is the largest number of storm-related summer outages on record since 1998 and we’re only halfway through summer."

In Winnetka

Brian Keys, director of water and electrics in Winnetka, said that his team is keeping an eye on the village's usage, but did not see any issues as of Thursday morning.

"Basically we have sufficient capacity through our sub-station, where we bring power into the village, and we also have a generating station if needed," Keys said. "We monitor conditions like this in elevated heat to make sure equipment is operating."

The historical peak for energy usage in Winnetka registered in 2006 at 40.1 megawatts. On Thursday at 9:30 a.m., the energy usage was at 29.2 megawatts.

"It could impact Winnetka if large transmission circuits [from ComEd] had a problem, but it is not likely that we would have a problem," Keys said.

What You Can Do

Keys urges residents to find places with air conditioning, such as libraries or shopping centers, to spend the day. In addition, consider raising the temperature setting in your house when you're not at home for energy efficiency.

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