CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The organization that manages the electricity grid that impacts West Virginia and others in eastern states put out two alerts Tuesday in connection with power usage during the extreme heat.
PJM issued a Maximum Generation Alert and a Load Management Alert.
Appalachian Power Company spokesperson Debby Pannell said neither impacts residential customers.
She said the max generation alert is to utilities like Appalachian Power who generate electricity to defer any planned maintenance on its units to make sure they are operating at full capacity.
Pannell said the Load Management Alert is for larger, commercial industrial customers who have signed up previously to voluntarily reduce power usage.
“It does order anyone to do anything right now. It just gives them a heads up that we may be calling on you,” Pannell said.
PJM’s generating capacity this summer is set at 179,200 megawatts. The system reached 143,000 megawatts Sunday, 161,000 megawatts on Monday with a predicted usage of 160,000 megawatts expected to be used on the grid on Tuesday.
Temperatures were surging into the 90s again Tuesday afternoon in the Mountain State. The National Service has most all of the state under either and extreme storm warning or a heat advisory.
Pannell said if you want to keep your AC thermostat where it is there are a few things that can be done.
“Make sure your HVAC system is working efficiently, change that filter out, cover your windows to make sure heat isn’t coming into your home and reduce any use of heat-producing appliances,” Pannell said.