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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 18, 1995                   TAG: 9507180079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOT AS IT'S BEEN, POWER DEMAND NEVER BROKE APCO RECORD

The past week's heat wave has had air conditioners humming, but customer demand on Appalachian Power Co. still fell comfortably short of the company's all-time summer power peak set two years ago.

Virginia Power Co., on the other hand, did set a summer record on Saturday. Virginia Power is a major power supplier in the eastern part of Virginia, with customers in Alleghany, Bedford, Botetourt and Rockbridge counties,

Appalachian's customers in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia demanded the most electricity during the current hot spell from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, when peak usage hit 5,250 megawatts. That was 200 megawatts short of the record summer peak for the company of 5,450 megawatts set on Aug. 31, 1993.

Appalachian, however, normally experiences its highest power demand during the winter; the company's all-time record power usage occurred on Jan. 19, 1994, when usage peaked at 6,887 megawatts.

Victoria Ratcliff, a spokeswoman for Appalachian, said the company had not expected a record summer peak last week because several of the company's industrial and coal-mining customers were idled for employee vacations.

Virginia Power set a record summer peak of 13,512 megawatts Saturday during the hour ending at 6 p.m. That eclipsed the record set on July 29, 1993, of 13,366 megawatts, company spokesman Bill Byrd said.

Byrd said it was unusual for the company to set a peak record on a Saturday because many of the company's business and industrial customers don't operate on weekends.

Although Virginia Power, unlike Appalachian, normally sees its highest power usage in the summer months, the company's all-time record peak of 14,877 megawatts was set on the same day as Appalachian's - Jan. 19, 1994.

by CNB