December 5, 2012
Despite heatwave conditions across regional Queensland on Tuesday, customer peak demand for electricity was well down on record, according to Ergon Energy.
Ergon chief executive Ian McLeod said electricity peak demand was down 14 per cent from a record peak of 2285MW in January 2010.
Demand increased gradually over the past week to reach 1957MW yesterday.
In the Wide Bay region, power use forsummer peaked at 267MW at 6.57pm on Tuesday.
At 4:00pm today (December 5) usage was 259MW.
The record summer peak recorded in the Wide Bay is 321MW on January 10, 2010.
“After a number of mild summers, this heatwave has been the first real test of where peak demand is heading on those few hot days of the year and the record growth of the past decade may be behind us,” Mr McLeod said.
“This is good news. A reduced peak demand reduces the need for more investment in new substations or increasing the capacity of existing substations and powerlines and this takes the pressure off rising power prices.”
Mr McLeod said customers had played a key role in reducing their average consumption.
“While we know price is contributing to this, it is also due to customers conserving energy and using more efficient appliances,” he said.
“Ergon has had a number of customer education and energy conservation and demand management programs in operation for many years which are contributing to the reduction in demand for power.
“We are also working with our customers again this summer to better manage peak demand and thank them for their on-going support.”
Mr McLeod said reduced peak demand and suppressed demand for network connections had allowed Ergon Energy to reduce its expenditure by 20 per cent or $1.5 billion for the 2010-15 period, leading to a contraction in the business and future savings in network prices.
