The Brief
- Just under a year since two hurricanes required an unprecedented number of fixes to the power grid, record-breaking temperatures are putting new pressure on the grid.
- Power companies say, so far, there are very few outages, and that none are due to increased demand from the heat.
- They’re urging customers to be mindful of the air conditioning they use, especially because it can impact monthly bills.
TAMPA – Customers often make the key mistake of setting the thermostat more than twenty degrees lower than the outside temperature.
“Usually about a third of a customer’s bill is attributed to AC,” said Aly Raschid of Duke Energy.
Once it’s that low, it takes a disproportionate amount of power for each degree cooler.…