
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 6, 1995                   TAG: 9502060076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DESPITE COLD, POWER KEEPS ON FLOWING

No Appalachian Power Co. customers in the Roanoke division had lost power as of Sunday, although the high winds that began buffeting the region Saturday night continued.

Despite the cold, the utility came nowhere close to the peak demand record of 6.89 million kilowatt-hours that was set in January 1994, according to Apco spokeswoman Victoria Ratcliff.

When the record was set last year, Apco had some of its generating units off line and was forced to ask its customers to find ways to conserve power. Apco now has sufficient generating capacity in place and anticipates no problems meeting demand this winter, Ratcliff said.

About 5,000 Appalachian and Craig-Botetourt Electric Co-op customers in Botetourt and Craig counties were out of power for about four hours Saturday evening because of a transmission-line failure that could have been related to the high winds, Ratcliff said.

In the New River Valley, Apco's Pulaski division superintendent Joe Weddle said Sunday the company had experienced only a few spot outages and no major problems.

by CNB