With electricity, timing is everything

Last summer’s record heat waves triggered a surge in power demand that maxed out supplies and led to outages across the West. With climate change increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events, power providers are planning for ways to maintain reliability.

At the same time, solar power is rapidly growing, providing generous amounts of daytime electricity, but, of course, none at night. Managing that daily flow is already important in California, and becoming more so across the country.

To look at some issues of timing and what they mean for EBCE and its customers, we present a three-part series.

• What’s in the peak?: Using research from the National Renewable Energy Lab, we see what drives peak electricity demand, and how it may change in the future.

• Getting ready for the heat: EBCE is rapidly rolling out new measures to manage high peak demand, affordably and cleanly.

• Rolling out time-of-use rates: To better align demand with supply, customers across the state are moving to electric rates that vary by time of day and season.