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To: hsg who wrote (1058)	7/23/1999 6:05:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 1239

Heat Wave Again Puts Heavy Strain On Power Grid 04:46 p.m Jul 23, 1999 Eastern By James Jelter SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Withering heat returned to the Midwestern United States Friday, once again forcing power companies to issue dire warnings that they were on the brink of running out of electricity. This was the second time this month -- and the summer is only half over -- that parts of the country's electrical system have been overwhelmed by hot weather, prompting serious questions about the reliability of service for this essential commodity. ''In general, it's tight throughout the region in terms of (power) transmission and generation,'' said Steve Brash, a spokesman for Cincinnati-based Cinergy Corp. Cinergy, which serves some 1.4 million electric customers, was one of several big Midwestern utilities issuing appeals Friday for customers to cut back on electricity use or face possible blackouts. Indianapolis Power & Light Co., with its biggest power plant down for emergency repairs, called the situation a ''critical shortage'' and raised the specter of rolling blackouts if voluntary conservation failed to ease the load on its system. All this was reminiscent of the rolling blackouts that plagued parts of New Jersey and mandatory voltage reductions from Maryland to Maine after the stiflingly hot July 4 holiday weekend. To cope with high demand, several suppliers throughout the Ohio Valley, including Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Co. (AEP) and FirstEnergy Corp. in Akron, Ohio, were forced to cut power to ''interruptible'' industrial customers. Interruptible customers typically buy electricity at lower rates, knowing they can be cut off on short notice if there is not enough power to go around. For some of them, it was the second time they had been cut off this month, a move economists predicted could cost steel mills and other heavy manufacturing industries in the region millions of dollars in lost production. But the bid to shed industrial demand was seen having the desired effect, and grid operators predicted they could squeak through the peak afternoon hours without cutting power to commercial or residential customers. Though sweltering heat is forecast to last several days, loads on the system will most likely dip over the weekend, when most offices are shut and air conditioning demand drops. But the outlook for early next week is not good. ''We can't see any significant break in the weather through next Wednesday,'' said Cinergy's Brash, adding that the heat and humidity will spread to much of the East Coast, leaving that much less surplus electricity available in the spot market. ''Right now, we're finding it's impossible to buy (spot) power for more than an hour at a time,'' he said. Hourly prices for electricity delivered into the Cinergy system hit $3,100 per megawatt-hour Friday afternoon, an astronomical price compared with the $25 to $30 range for next-day delivery into the same system just 10 days ago. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited