Last year, APS customers broke the all-time peak energy demand record at 8,162 megawatts. This year is expected to be no different and the company is preparing to have 8,400 megawatts available during peak times this year.The company serves 1.4 million customers in Arizona."We've never had to ask the customers not to use their air conditioning," Distribution Operation Center Manager Wesley Horne, said.
"We procure resources well in advance of summer so that we have sufficient resources to cover our customers' expected load, plus reserves or backup generation," APS Director of Power Supply Services, Tim Rusert said.APS's approach to reliability means years in advance planning."We have an integrated planning model here where we look, you know, 15 or 20 years into the future.