Power demand soared as mercury rose

[AussieMark]

Power demand soared as mercury rose

WITH the blackouts of last summer fresh in their minds, Perth residents were yesterday relieved to make it through a day of scorching hot weather without an electricity shortage.

After noting forecasts of very hot weather for the first half of this week, Western Australia's main electricity utility, Western Power, warned consumers there would be little margin between supply and demand and asked people to take voluntary steps to conserve power.

But as Perth hit 41.5 degrees Celsius just after 2pm WST yesterday, Western Power spokesman Peter Winner said the utility was coping well.

"The demand at the moment is about 2650 megawatts so we've got some up our sleeve. We're looking like we'll be okay," Mr Winner said.

"I suppose you could call it a bit of a dummy run for later in the summer when there will be more generation available, all the stuff will come back off maintenance and all the contingencies will be in place."

Western Power said two suburbs and roughly 3000 customers were blacked out as a result of normal system faults.

Premier Geoff Gallop said he was confident the utility had done all it could to ensure uninterrupted power supply during peak periods of demand.

"It is important that they consult with the community in terms of these issues," he told reporters.

During a heatwave in February, Western Power issued a snap System Emergency for the state's south-west, banning all non-essential power use under threat of hefty fines.

It was heavily criticised for its management of the crisis that claimed two senior scalps, and has since endeavoured to improve communication strategies as well as address power generation and gas supply issues.