JEMC activates load management plan due to weather-related demand for electricity

JEFFERSON - Jackson EMC experienced scattered outages Tuesday throughout its 10-county service area, from a high of around 1,800 customers between 3 and 5 a.m. to around 500 at 9 a.m. and about 70 by late afternoon.

The outages were mainly the result of equipment malfunctions in fuses and transformers due to the high electrical demand. The cooperative only experienced one extended circuit outage, which occurred in Gwinnett County but was the result of a traffic accident rather than the cold weather.

Because demand was so high, Jackson EMC implemented load management Tuesday morning from 6 to 10.

"Our load management program helps us control peak electrical demand by operating switches voluntarily installed on residential water heaters which cycle them off for brief periods, and either switching commercial loads off or using on-site generation," spokeswoman Bonnie Jones explained. "Normally, the cooperative only implements load management on extremely hot summer days for part of the afternoon and early evening, but the blast of arctic air made this necessary to manage today's high demand."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/1/269639