Danville Utilities today issued a peak power alert through Friday evening, and it requests its electric customers to conserve energy during the peak periods. The peak periods will be from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Wednesday through Friday.
Peak alerts are not a notice of a shortage of electricity. They are a load management effort to reduce the demand for electricity during periods when electric load levels reach their highest point. These high load periods are the electric utility industry’s equivalent of rush-hour traffic.
Danville’s transmission provider, American Electric Power, bases its transmission charges on the highest peak usage hour in a year.
Peak alert times are temperature dependent. In its latest forecast, the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg expects overnight lows of 9 to 11 degrees and daytime highs of 27 to 34 degrees for the remainder of the workweek.
Customers can take simple conservation steps during peak periods:
- Shut off lights when not needed,
- Unplug small appliances and electric chargers (especially those with small lights),
- Lower the thermostat,
- Run the dishwasher and do laundry and other household chores requiring electricity during hours other than the peak hours,
- Turn off televisions, computers, radios and other electronic devices when not being used.
