Avista Asking Customers To Power Down Utility Hopes To Avoid Shortages As Heat Increases Demand For Electricity

Avista Utilities asked customers on Wednesday to voluntarily limit electricity use as high temperatures have pushed demand to near record levels for June.

Other utilities in the Northwest and California also reported high power loads as residents counterattacked searing heat with air conditioning.

And as utilities bid against one another for the megawatts to satisfy their requirements, prices went to unprecedented levels.

Puget Sound Energy, for example, briefly paid $1,350 per megawatt-hour on Tuesday for power that typically costs $20 per megawatt-hour at this time of year.

Large industrial customers took the brunt of the impact. In Bellingham, Georgia-Pacific West said it would close its paper mill because of electricity costs. More than 600 workers will be laid off.

Alcoa Inc. announced it will close its aluminum smelter at Troutdale, Ore., costing another 525 workers their jobs.

Although a spokeswoman said that decision was based on the plant’s antiquated technology and not on power costs, the shutdown will have the side effect of making the megawatts consumed by the smelter’s potlines available to Northwest Alloys.

That magnesium producer employs almost 400 people at its plant near Addy, Wash., 50 miles north of Spokane.

The Troutdale closure follows by two weeks similar actions by Vanalco at Vancouver, Wash., and Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., which shut down its Tacoma smelter and some of its operations at Mead.

Stresses created by the unusual heat have been exacerbated by outages at several generating facilities in the region.

The 1,200-megawatt Columbia Generating Station, the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant, shut down automatically Monday, probably because of a dust buildup on a sensitive piece of equipment. Managers plan to begin bringing the plant back up Thursday night.

Three coal-fired plants - Centralia in Western Washington, Colstrip in Montana and Jim Bridger in Wyoming - also were off-line.

And water spillage to enhance fish passage on the Columbia River system has reduced power from that resource.

The result is less power at a time when demand is high, Bonneville Power Administration spokesman Ed Mosey said.

Avista’s request for customer restraint was unprecedented for the summer, spokeswoman Catherine Parochetti said.

The appeal, she said, was prompted by peak demand near 1,100 megawatts, 25 percent above the level for the same week a year ago.

“We’re asking for some behavior changes,” Parochetti said, particularly during the three hours each day from 4 to 7 p.m.

Among the conservation steps the utility recommends are:

Keep blinds and shades drawn during the heat of the day.

Cook outside, use a microwave or eat a cold meal.

Replace clogged air-conditioner filters.

Delay chores such as drying clothes until later in the evening.

“Energy conservation is always a good thing,” Parochetti said.

Avista Utilities President Ed Turner said cooperation would help the region avoid rolling blackouts like those U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson warned of in Congress on Wednesday.

“We’re concerned about the reliability of the electricity grid,” Richardson told a House Commerce Committee hearing.

Both the Northwest and California “remain very vulnerable to power outages” during peak demand periods, he said, adding that the regions were “barely able to avoid” brownouts this past week.

Congress is considering legislation that would create a new organization to monitor and regulate reliability of the nation’s electricity grids. But even if that bill passes, it won’t have any impact this summer.

Electricity was not the only energy commodity demonstrating volatility in the Northwest on Wednesday. Puget Sound Energy and Cascade Natural Gas sought major gas rate increases that would take effect Aug. 1 if approved by Washington regulators.

The increases, 27.5 percent and 12.5 percent respectively, reflect wholesale gas prices as much as 60 percent higher than a year ago.

With the region looking to natural gas-fired turbines to meet future energy needs, higher fuel costs are likely to continue to flow through to electricity consumers.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.