Texans Bake as Electricity Usage Hits Record

By today, a "cool" spell was expected to grip Texas, plunging temperatures 
down to around 100. A nice respite from the 105-plus temperatures that 
stilled the state and sent electricity peak loads to new records last week 
for the third time this year. 

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), an industry coalition that 
administers the state's power grid and serves 85% of the state's electric 
load, reported Friday that preliminary numbers indicated that electricity 
usage reached an all-time peak high for the third time in 44 days last 
Thursday, with Texans using 57,731 MW of power. Of course, that was before 
the weekend, when temperatures were expected to climb as high as 112 at some 
locations in the state --- just in time for Labor Day picnics. 

The new usage record last Thursday broke the previous record set the day 
before, on Wednesday, when consumers used 55,994 MW of power. The two broken 
records broke a record set just six weeks earlier, July 19, when Texans used 
55,796 MW of power. 

Peak load in August 1999 was 54,849 MW of power, while peak load in August 
1998 was 53,689 MW of power.