By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After a weekend of blasting air conditioning, Bowling Green electric customers are being asked to cut back on their electricity use on Monday afternoon.
The city utility department is asking residents to voluntarily hold off on doing laundry, cooking and set air conditioners at a higher temperature.
It’s not that the electric system can’t handle the demands, according to Utilities Director Brian O’Connell. And it’s not that there are any risks of blackouts or rolling brownouts due to the peaking power usage.
It’s not about the power. It’s about the money.
Customers are being asked to conserve power Monday from 2 to 6 p.m. so the city can save on electricity costs next year, O’Connell said.
“There’s plenty of power available and the grid is in good shape, but if we can conserve during these peak hours, the city can save on transmission and capacity costs next year,” the city released in a statement. “Lowering the peak demand will help keep the city’s electricity rates low.”
Though the temperatures are expected to be higher on the weekend, residents are being asked to conserve on Monday, when industries will be an additional pull on the electric grid.
Bowling Green’s electric rates are based on a transmission charge and a capacity charge, O’Connell explained. The transmission charge for next year will be calculated based on the city’s peak energy consumption this year.
“So what we are paying this year is based on last year’s peak,” he said.
The capacity charge is based on the average of a particular hour of electric usage during the top five peak days.
“When customers can cut back on peak days, that can reduce the charge for next year,” O’Connell said.
This is first time since O’Connell became utilities director in 2011 that the city has made such a conservation request of its residents. Customers are being asked to:
- Shut off lights when not needed.
- Unplug small appliances and electric chargers.
- Raise air conditioner thermostats a degree or two.
- Close curtains, drapes and blinds.
- Hold off on laundry and other household chores requiring electricity.
- Turn off televisions, computers, gaming consoles and other electronic devices when not being used.
More conservation requests will likely be made this summer if other heat waves hit the region.
“We will try to hit the high ones,” O’Connell said. “This is a possible way to reduce those charges for next year.”
Joe Fawcett, the assistant municipal administrator, also predicted the city may ask for similar conservation efforts a handful of times during the summer.
“When it’s a perfect storm – if it’s really hot and people are running their air conditioning and other appliances, and industries are operating,” Fawcett said.
”As a municipal electric system, owned by its citizens and customers, it is contingent upon those same citizens and customers to keep the electric rates for themselves and all other customers of Bowling Green Municipal Utilities as low as possible,” the city’s press release stated. “Our citizens and customers have the opportunity to make a difference in their system and their rates by conserving energy during the periods stated for the upcoming days. As forecast dictates, we will most likely be asking our citizens and customers to again conserve energy at additional times this summer.”
