By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Calls by West Virginia’s electric utilities over the Christmas weekend asking residents to conserve power during the record-breaking cold snap left Gov. Jim Justice seeing red.
PJM Interconnection, which manages the electric grid for West Virginia and 12 other states plus Washington, D.C., issued a call for customers in the PJM service area to curtail non-essential use of electricity in response to an increased load on the grid due to a blast of Arctic air plunging outdoor temperature below zero.
“PJM is asking consumers to reduce their use of electricity, if health permits, between the hours of 4 a.m. on December 24, 2022 and 10 a.m. on December 25, 2022,” according to a Dec. 23 statement. “Demand for electricity is expected to increase in the PJM region and the regions neighboring PJM because of the extremely cold weather.”
Subsidiaries of American Electric Power, including Appalachian Power, also urged customers to reduce the load on the power grid by lowering thermostats within reason, turning off unneeded lights, and postponing use of major appliances…
