The province may be in a deep freeze, but the power grids are heating up.
Over the past two days, Albertans have used a record amount of electricity at certain times. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) oversees the province’s power system. They said the first record was broken Monday night and then again Tuesday night. It happened between the hours of 5pm and 6pm.
Both nights, Albertans used a record hourly average of 11,400 megawatts of electricity. This was mostly factored in from the time people came home and put on their lights and appliances, as well as Christmas displays.
While there is more stress on the power grid during this deep freeze, an AESO spokesperson says there hasn’t been any supply issues.
“If ice goes on the major transmission lines or on some of the big generators, they may have a little more trouble operating during a sustained cold snap,” says Angela Anderson with AESO. “That's when we would start to worry but for now we see we have a healthy supply and don't foresee any of those issues.”
The company adds that while supplies are still okay they want consumers to still be smart with their consumption.
The cold snap is expected to last for a couple of weeks.
With files from Nicole Weisberg
