Heat wave pulling record megawatts

The recent intense heat wave has pushed electricity demand to new highs.

The Gaffney Board of Public Works set a string of new demand records last week. The new record of 60.1 megawatts was set last Wednesday. The demand last week ranged from 56 megawatts to a record of 60.1 on Wednesday.

The record was set a couple of years ago at 55 megawatts. Last year's highest demand was 52 megawatts.

"We just don't normally get four or five straight days of over 100-degree temperatures," Gaffney Board of Public Works General Manager Donnie Hardin said.

Despite the surging demand, there have been no major outages.

"We have plenty of power," Hardin said. "We have no problem supplying the power, but customers should always try to conserve."

With the temperatures expected to fall a bit this week, so should the demand on electricity.

"Things should be a lot better this week," he said.