CALGARY (660 NEWS) – The extreme cold temperatures have led to a new record for power consumption in the province.
The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) said Tuesday’s electricity usage set a new record with 11,729 MW used.
The previous record was 11,698 MW. set in January 2020.
It's still cold out and electricity usage is going up! We hit a new all-time record yesterday of 11,729 MW passing the previous record of 11,698 MW.
There is a good possibility we will go higher as the cold weather sticks around.
Stay warm! #ABElectricity
— AESO (@theAESO) February 10, 2021
The AESO anticipates that record could be broken again in the coming days as frigid temperatures and windchills are expected to stick around.
All of Alberta has been under an extreme cold warning for most of the week as windchills have exceeded minus 40 Celsius.
AESO said machines can break in the cold weather but we’re not in any danger of outages yet.
The operator is asking people to try and use less power from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. this week to try and offset the usage surge.
In January 2020, the AESO issued a level-two alert as a similar extreme cold spell blanketed much of the province leading to heavy electricity usage and forcing the operator to use its reserves to supply energy.
So far no warnings or alerts have been issued.
