As power usage, temperatures peak, residents as well as companies make efforts to reduce electric consumption

As Columbia’s electric system hit a record high of power usage this week, residential and industrial utility customers began reducing their electric consumption to lighten the utility’s load and control power costs.

Columbia’s electric load peaked at 266 megawatts Wednesday, and city officials said they expected power usage during Thursday’s hot weather to reach another all-time high. In 2005, the highest electric load was 254 megawatts.

Dan Dasho, director of Columbia’s Water and Light Department, said the city relies on customers who participate in conservation programs during the afternoon and early evening.

“We predicted loads of 265 megawatts for this year, and our load was at 266 (Wednesday),” Dasho said. “We’re prepared to meet that and we’re doing it.”

Wednesday and Thursday were the first days this year the city used load shedding by large industrial customers and management switches on air conditioners in residential homes to reduce the electric loads.

Load shedding is when large industrial customers conserve energy during the afternoon hours of hot days by turning off or reducing their air conditioners. Nine of Columbia’s largest industrial customers participate in the load shedding program, including Columbia Public Schools, MBS Textbook Exchange, 3M, Quaker Oats and Square D.

“We even have a rock quarry that shuts down completely during load shedding days,” said Tina Worley, utilities services director for Water and Light.

Also, more than 14,000 residential customers have switches on their air conditioners installed by Water and Light that turn off the air conditioning for seven minutes of every hour.

The air conditioner switch program, which began in Columbia in 1987, requires utility customers to contact the Water and Light department to have a switch installed. Customers who participate in the program receive a 3 percent reduction in their summer electrical bills.

“You won’t even notice the air conditioner switch,” Dasho said. “I have one in my house, and you can’t even notice its impact, but it does make a big difference for the city.”

The use reduction programs are only used on a few of the hottest days each year, Worley said.

As vice president of operations for MBS Textbook Exchange, one of Columbia’s largest industrial utility customers, Mark Pulliam understands the city’s dilemma on the hottest days of the year.

Pulliam said MBS Textbook Exchange began load shedding Wednesday by turning down the air conditioners at 2:45 p.m.

“Our office temperatures generally will go up eight to ten degrees,” he said. “We start them back up at 7 p.m. The building temperature increases from three to five in the afternoon, but since people generally leave at five, it’s a sacrifice, but it’s not too bad.”

Pulliam sent out an e-mail to the company’s 1,100 employees explaining that they would feel slightly higher temperatures during some afternoons this week.

“Some people may ask, why does the city not want to sell as much power as they can?” Pulliam said. “It’s all in the supply and demand. The city has to buy more power at the grid during these hottest days, and this adds a substantial cost-to-serve burden. I told the employees that if we don’t conserve here, the city could pass higher electric costs onto everyone.”

Pulliam estimated MBS Textbook Exchange’s warehouse and office temperatures to be about 84 degrees during the few afternoons a year when the company participates in load shedding, as it has for the past three years.

“Certainly, we’d rather leave our air conditioners on, but we understand that if the city gets to a point where they can’t supply it, that’s going to be harder than what we’re doing.”

Utility customers interested in the air conditioner switch program or load shedding should call the Columbia Water and Light department at 874-7325 or go to the city’s Web site at www.GoColumbiaMo.com.