Here is a post from the AOL Oil & Gas board that I found interesting.
Subject: ELECTRICITY OUTAGE
Date: Sun, Jun 28, 1998 07:56 EDT
From: Xy530
Message-id: <1998062811565700.HAA28105@ladder01.news.aol.com>
Empire7 posted on the other board about a nuclear plant being knocked out from the storms across the midwest. Some refineries are in shut down, which should cause gasoline to draw , especially since another refiner in LA is shutdown for maintenance. I would think Nat Gas. prices would get a boost , as utilities scramble to by elec from other sources. Any opinions?
Xy530
Midwest Power Shortage Shuts Plants, Darkens Offices
Cleveland, June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Manufacturers in the U.S. Midwest, including steelmaker LTV Corp., closed plants as a two- day heat wave swelled electricity demand and forced utilities such as Chicago's Unicom Corp. to cut power deliveries.
LTV halted some operations at its Cleveland plant and may reduce production at other Midwest facilities. Unicom, owner of Commonwealth Edison, said demand to run air conditioners was so great that it was forced to turn off the lights at its headquarters to help prevent a Chicago blackout.
We're all in the dark. We're our own biggest customer, and we're doing all we can to cut consumption,'' said Matthew Triaca, spokesman for Unicom Corp.
The moves came as market prices for power in the Midwest soared to record highs of as much as $3,200 a megawatt-hour, 125 times the average price last year.
Utilities struggled to find power to meet demand because many nuclear plants in the Midwest are down, and the region's booming economy has increased demand.
We're running industrial output levels at record highs. It certainly is a stress on the (electrical) system,'' said Diane Swonk, an economist at First Chicago NGD Corp.
Plants Shut Down
More than 5,000 megawatts of nuclear generation -- enough to power 5 million homes -- is out of service in the Midwest, the Bloomberg Energy Service has determined. Large coal-fired plants have also been shut down for maintenance or repairs.
Commonwealth Edison's twin 1,036-megawatt LaSalle nuclear reactors and Illinois Power's 930-megawatt Clinton reactor have been shut since September of 1996. American Electric Power Co.'s twin Cook reactors, which each generate about 1,000 megawatts, have been shut since September of last year.
Wisconsin Electric Power Co. said it's working to restart its 512-megawatt Point Beach 1 nuclear reactor by this weekend. The company shut the reactor more than four months ago for refueling and maintenance.
Unicom's shares fell 3/4 to 35 1/16. Shares of Milwaukee- based Wisconsin Energy Corp., owner of Wisconsin Electric, fell 3/8 to 30 1/8.
Blackout Warning
LTV, which spends $130 million a year on electricity, said the power problem forced its LTV Steel Co. subsidiary to shut a mill at its Cleveland steel plant and interrupt production schedules.
LTV has tried to operate the Cleveland plant during hours of low electricity demand, usually at night and the early morning, and purchase power from other suppliers at higher costs.
LTV Steel is urging its energy suppliers to use every means possible to maximize the power available. . . and to minimize the economic impact of their generating unit outages on the company,'' LTV Steel said in a statement.
LTV shares fell 1/8 to 18 1/2.
BP America said it reduced production at its 160,000-barrel- a-day refinery in Toledo after its power supply was trimmed. The Cleveland-based company agreed to let electricity be diverted to hospitals and other vital facilities in the city, a company spokesman said. BP America is a subsidiary of British Petroleum Co.
Buckeye Partners LP, a pipeline operator, said it shut a 50,000 barrel-a-day gasoline pipeline in Ohio to reduce its power usage. The Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company transports fuel from Toledo refineries to Lima, Ohio. Its shares rose 1 1/16 to 29.
Sun Oil Co. said it shut its refinery in Toledo, Ohio, because of tornado damage to power suppliers' equipment. Sun said it doesn't know how long the outage will last because FirstEnergy Corp., electricity supplier to both it and LTV, is struggling to find enough power to meet demand and bring its system back online.
Sun shares fell 3/4 to 37 11/16.
Blackouts Averted
FirstEnergy said it asked customers to reduce electricity use to avoid blackouts. Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy is the parent company of Ohio Edison Co., Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., Toledo Edison Co. and Pennsylvania Power Co., which have 2.1 million customers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
FirstEnergy is short on power in part because of the automatic shutdown last night of its Davis-Besse nuclear reactor after a tornado in north-central Ohio. The 906-megawatt reactor in Oak Harbor, Ohio, can produce enough power to light about 900,000 homes.
First Energy shares rose 1/8 to 30 7/16.
Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Co., the third largest U.S. electric utility, said it cut power to 28 customers who together use about 1,000 megawatt-hours, enough to light a million homes. AEP also cut voltage on its lines slightly, making its customers' lights flicker, and cut power use at its offices.
We've shut our lights, our elevators and it's starting to get really hot in here,'' said Deb Strohmaier, an AEP spokeswoman.
AEP shares fell 3/4 to 45 1/4.
Cincinnati-based Cinergy Corp. warned 2,000 industrial customers would ''rotate blackouts'' unless they cut power consumption. Cinergy, which has more than 1.4 million electric customers, said several complied with the request.
Cinergy shares fell 5/8 to 34 5/16.
Record Demand
Cinergy expects electricity demand during the heat wave to surpass its record high of 10,119 megawatt hours.
In Michigan yesterday, electricity demand reached an all- time high for Detroit Edison Co., whose 2 million customers demanded 10,523 megawatt-hours of power. The last record was 10,337 megawatt-hours, set in August of 1996.
We expect customer demand to continue to set records this summer,'' said Michael Champley, Detroit Edison senior vice president, in a statement.
Shares of DTE Energy Co., owner of Detroit Edison, fell 1/2 to 40.
Wisconsin Electric said it cut back or shut off power supplies to 15 of its larger customers yesterday, and expected to cut or shut off power to 79 customers today.
Illinois Power, a subsidiary of Illinova Corp., said some of its largest customers voluntarily cut back production or adjusted operating schedules
We've cut back at our own offices by turning off lights and raising the thermostat,'' said Mike Monahan, an Illinova spokesman.
Decatur, Illinois-based Illinova's shares were unchanged at 29 3/4.
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