C.O. power providers not seeing major strain on grid, despite record heat

(Update: Adding video, comments from Pacific Power, Central Electric Cooperative)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- To escape the heat wave, just about everyone is cranking up the air conditioning, if they have it.

But if everyone is at home using the air conditioning or fans, what does that do to the power company?

The answer could surprise you.

Pacific Power spokesperson Drew Hanson told NewsChannel 21 on Monday, "Energy use during this heat wave, which has been record-breaking in terms of temperatures, is really in line with what we'd expect during a normal summer hot spell."

Hanson said even though there were about 500 to 800 Bend and Redmond customers without power on Sunday, the outages were not confirmed to be heat-related.

"(They) were typically due to a blown fuse, which are basically protective devices on the conductors.” Hanson said. “So the system is working as intended."

Brent ten Pas, director of public relations with Central Electric Cooperative, said summer is not even the busiest time of the year.

"Our demand during this heat wave has been significantly less than our winter peak load," ten Pas said -- about 100 megawatts lower than its all-time high.

Hanson said usage is up, but there's no need to change habits.

"We're not currently asking customers to curtail energy use or anything like that," he said.

That's important, because people are going to keep plugging in their fans and air conditioners to stay cool. Hanson also noted that the 800 customers who lost power Sunday was just a small fraction of the 76,000 customers Pacific Power serves in Central Oregon. There were no reported outages as of Monday evening.