SCE&G Breaks Record for Electricity Demand
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Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — As bitter cold temperatures grip the Midlands, South Carolina Electric and Gas Company soared to a new record in electricity demand. “Typically a homes heating and cooling system is going to be the biggest user of electricity in the home so when you see the temperatures plummet like they have, your going to see demand go up because people are trying to stay warm,” said spokesperson Eric Boomhower. During the 8 o’clock hour Friday morning, 4,970 megawatts of electricity was used by consumers. Boomhower said during the cold snap they are encouraging people to conserve energy to prevent strains in the electric grid system “When you have record demand, even when you build your system to have a little margin beyond that, there’s always the possibility of well what if a major power plant tripped and all the sudden you lose that generators capacity,” he said. Officials said there are a few things you can do in your home to conserve energy, including keeping your thermostat at 68 degrees. “When we ask our customers to do some simple things, it’s not just helping us it’s helping them because its gonna take their electricity usage down a little bit which will be reflected when their bills come,” said Boomhower. He added it’s also important to unplug appliances you aren’t using. “A lot of people don’t realize for instance, if you plug your phone charger in and you just unplug the phone, as long as something still plugged into that wall socket, it’s drawing a current,” he said.
