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Great River Energy Prepares for High Demand; Requests Help From Customers

Posted on: Thursday, 13 July 2006, 12:00 CDT

In the throes of a July heat wave, Great River Energy and its member cooperatives are looking to their customers to help minimize demand for electricity. With weather forecasts showing several days of high temperatures in the upper 90s, no rain activity and high humidity, the demand for power is expected to rise.

The cooperatives request that customers voluntarily cut back energy use between 12 p.m. (noon) and 10 p.m. for the next few days.

Energy saving suggestions include:

-- Choose meals that don't contribute additional heat to the home

-- Delay running the dishwasher

-- Set the air conditioner to 78 degrees or higher

-- Delay washing clothes until after 10 p.m.

-- Turn off excess lights and draw curtains and draperies closed

"Even with the climbing temperatures and constant air conditioner use, we have enough power to serve our customers," says Gary Connett, Great River Energy manager of member services and demand side management. "Over the last few years, Great River Energy has made significant investments in new power plants and transmission lines to keep up with this growing energy demand."

"We're not facing any sort of critical situation," Connett says. "Rather, on hot days like today Great River Energy must purchase additional energy to meet demand and that can be expensive. These high costs are ultimately passed on to our members. Therefore, it's important for consumers to remember that simple things like adjusting their thermostats and turning off unnecessary appliances may help reduce their energy bills."

Great River Energy (www.greatriverenergy.com) is a not-for-profit electric generation and transmission cooperative providing wholesale electric energy and related services to 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin serving more than 600,000 members, or approximately 1.7 million people. Great River Energy is the second largest power supplier in Minnesota, in terms of generating capacity, and the fourth largest utility of its type in the United States.

Source: Business Wire

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