Q92: Victoria's Best Music Station » electricity

Is Your State Paying the Most for Electricity?

Kathy Landin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:09:12 +0000

Turning up the dial on your thermostat in the fall and winter months is bound to add major coin to your electric bill, so you power through. Unless you live in Utah, and then you really have nothing to worry about, according to new data released this week.

ERCOT News Release: Power Warning – Conservation Critical

Amory Gritta — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:23:31 +0000

Austin, Aug.4, 2011 - Consumers and businesses are asked to reduce their electricity use during peak electricity hours from 3 to 7 p.m. today to avert the need for rotating outages.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), system operator for the state’s bulk transmission grid, initiated Energy Emergency Alert Level 2 at 2:26 p.m. today due to responsive reserves below 1,750 megawatts (MW).

"Interruptible loads – large customers paid to be dropped in a level 2 emergency have been deployed," said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations.

Experiment With the Electrical Grid Could Make Your Clocks Wrong

Shauna Wright — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:30:31 +0000

Starting in mid-July, your electric clocks and coffeemakers could be running up to 20 minutes fast, and you probably won’t know why.

For the past 80 years, clocks plugged in to an electrical source have kept time based on the rate of the electrical current that powers them. If this current doesn’t keep its usual rate, clocks run a bit fast or slow. Right now, power companies now take steps to ensure the frequency of the current – and the time – is as precise as possible.