Jul 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kristi E. Swartz The Atlanta Journal-Constitution



The nation's heat wave has started to put a strain on electric company power grids, as some utilities in the East Coast have begun asking customers to do more to conserve energy to prevent blackouts.

As the mercury nears 100, Georgia Power customers shouldn't have to worry, one company spokesman said Thursday. The utility spent more than $1.5 billion last year improving its power grid.

"We at Georgia Power feel pretty good about our ability to meet demand over the next few days," Brian Green, a Georgia Power spokesman said at the utility's Plant McDonough near Smyrna. "We spent a lot of time maintaining our lines."

Plant McDonough is in the process of converting its coal-fired units to ones that use natural gas.

 Crews are monitoring Georgia Power's entire system at the company's control centers to make sure the grid doesn't get overloaded, he said.

Late afternoon --around 4 p.m. --is when the demand on the utility's power grid is at its highest, Green said. That's the hottest part of the day and is when people start coming home from work and ramping up their air conditioning units to cool off their homes, he said.

There are ways that customers can cope with the heat without causing a strain on their wallets, Green said.

Georgia Power is telling customers to keep the thermostat set at 78 degrees; moving it even one degree lower can increase energy use by 3 or 4 percent, he said.

Closing curtains and blinds as well as not using ovens, stoves and dryers during the hottest part of the day can also keep a home cooler and cut back on energy use, he said.

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