Cold Snap Sets Record for PUD

January 8, 2010

The December 2009 cold snap resulted in a new record for electricity usage for Columbia River People's Utility District.

The PUD's hourly peak load at 8:00 a.m. on December 10, 2009 was 104.2 megawatts (MW), which is nearly a 7% increase over the previous peak load of 97.6MW, set during the December 2008 snowstorm.

"We were fortunate to avoid major outages during the extreme cold weather," said PUD Engineering and Operations Manager Steve Hursh. "Our system performed admirably considering the demands being placed upon it."

PUD Customer Accounts Supervisor Susan Schwirse said customers may see an increase in their January electricity bills as a result of the record cold weather. Customers who are struggling to make payments should call Customer Accounts at (503) 397-0590 to discuss payment arrangements.  

The PUD's Energy Experts offer free home energy audits to customers with electric heat.  They also have rebate programs for insulation upgrades, ENERGY STAR windows, heating & cooling improvements and other home efficiency improvements that can reduce winter heating bills. State and federal tax credits are also available for some home efficiency upgrades. To learn more about the PUD's energy efficiency programs, visit www.crpud.net or call (503) 366-5470.

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For more information, contact Libby Calnon, PUD Communication Specialist, at lca@crpud.org or (503) 366-3264.

Columbia River People's Utility District provides electric service to 18,560 customers in Columbia and Multnomah Counties in Oregon.

The PUD employs 49 people and had FY2009 gross revenues of $26.9 million.