COLUMBUS, Ohio — Power companies are urging customers to use energy wisely as the demand is up. They expect no interruption in service, but that depends on the weather.
Last summer a storm combined with a stretch of high temperatures lead to power outages for many Ohio AEP customers in the Columbus area. AEP Ohio said its prepared to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
On Friday PJM Interconnection issued what it calls a maximum generation alert to help prepare generators for the onset of intense heat. PJM coordinates the movement of electricity across 13 states including Ohio.
“They make sure that enough power plants are online to be able to provide electricity through extreme conditions like this heat,” said Hannah Catlett from Ohio Edison. “We don’t expect any issues of reliability due to the heat alone.”
“We have been talking with PJM and what we are hearing is we do have enough capacity to serve our customers throughout Ohio,” said Jay Garrett, customer experience manager at AEP Ohio.
Garrett said in the summer, storms can have an impact especially with high winds knocking trees or poles down.
Working with PJM, Ohio Edison and AEP Ohio are able to pull power sources from several other states.
To conserve energy, power providers urge you to raise the thermostat a few degrees to reduce the load on your air conditioner and save money on your energy bill.