PPL Corporation (PPL -0.07%) announced today that its customers demanded more power this Tuesday than any previous winter day. With 1.4 million users throughout Pennsylvania, demand clocked in at a whopping 7,784 MW, beating the previous 7,577 MW record set in February 2007.
Source: PPL.
While utilities generally look forward to having customers increase their energy use, electric companies have been urging homeowners to use less power as systems have been stretched to near-maximum capacities over the past few days.
"We continuously maintain our system and invest in improvements for year-round reliability, including during weather extremes like this one," said Dave Bonenberger, PPL's vice president of distribution operations. "Despite what Mother Nature delivers, our customers rightfully expect we'll deliver for them, and we do."
Four Duke Energy subsidiary utilities also reached record high demands this week in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and the Carolinas.
