PRINCE GEORGE–With summer underway, many of us are looking for ways to stay cool. But both here and in the western United States, extreme heat is putting the electrical grid under stress.
Customers here in the north have started to drive up the demand for power to help keep their homes cool.
“Monday and Tuesday were definitely higher than last week, the same day as last week and last year for instant. So we are seeing at least a 10 per cent increase in consumption and that’s just the two days Monday, Tuesday,” said Bob Gammer, Community Relations Manager, Northern BC Hydro.
It’s a similar story across western Canada and parts of the United States. Down south in Texas, residents have been asked to conserve energy to avoid blackouts. BC Hydro says that the record for maximum summer consumption is 7,900 megawatts in northern B.C.
Three days into summer and we’re almost 10 per cent of the way there.
But BC Hydro says they’re not worried about it.
“We’re in good shape because we are a winter peaking jurisdiction, we see greater energy demand in the winter. Our record is over 10,000 megawatts, not 7,900. We’re just talking summertime records. Winter is way higher and we have the capacity to meet load in the winter time. So this is not a problem for us,” said Gammer.
It’s not just power that’s getting an increased demand. HVAC and refrigeration contractors have started to get more calls just in the last week.
“We’ve been so busy, it’s been hard to keep up with our regular customers and our new customers so we’re trying our best.”
Allan Russell, owner of Buckhorn Heating and Air Conditioning says that he’s used to getting lots of calls this time of the year, but he believes the pandemic played a part.
“We’ve had a lot cause I think of last year’s Covid closures. So a lot of people didn’t do maintainances and a lot of things happened or they were broke from last year but it was so cold,” said Russell.
As of June 23, Environment Canada is calling for record breaking temperatures in the 30s this weekend here in Prince George. Reaching as high as 34 degrees on Sunday.
But if you can’t make it out to the pool or water park this weekend, there’s still other ways to stay cool inside.
“Definitely have your windows open in the house in the morning before the outside temperature reaches the inside temperature and then when they’re about even close your windows.” said Gammer.
But if you plan on using your AC, you should still keep an eye out to prevent any service calls.
“Make sure the condensers are clean on their air conditioning coils, and also to change their filters on their furnaces cause the furnaces are actually what moves the air for the air conditioning. So if they don’t change the furnace filter, it’ll end up icing up,” said Russell.
