A major dip in the mercury this week as our blast of cold weather broke some records -- and not just temperature records, either.The PSE record books have been re-written and re-re-written a few times this week, as the cold has resulted in a spike in both natural gas and electric use.
On the natural gas side (and the picture here shows our Jackson Prairie storage facility in Lewis County), our customers used record amounts of natural gas.
On Monday, we set a new record of 791,000 MMBtu (million British thermal units) of natural gas, and then set a new record on Wednesday of 812,000 MMBtu of natural gas.
Both marks eclipsed the natural gas usage of only a year ago during our very cold (and snowy) December 2008.
On the electric side, we also set records that broke our old marks (from December 2008), with a new all-time energy demand of 4,912 megawatts (MW), a little higher than the previous high demand for electricity of 4,906 MW set in 2008.
Interestingly, we also set a new summer peak only last July, when the 100+ degree heat wave pushed electric consumption to 3,508 MW, higher than what had been the summer record of 3,228 MW set in July 2007.
Notice a pattern here? We're using a lot more energy -- winter or summer -- and we're seeing those gains coming quickly.
We're dealing with that challenge in three ways: adding to our energy supplies, reinforcing the pipes and wires that make up our energy delivery systems and increasing the ways we can help you track and reduce your energy use.
With the cold weather looking to stick around, all three strategies look like wise ideas.
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