Page 12-Saturday, July 12, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Unrelenting heat
wave brings
record-breaking
utility demands
A
By The Associated Press
The unrelenting heat wave in the
South, Southwest and Midwest is
bringing record-breaking electricity
demands to utilities, and may bring
record-breaking bills to consumers who
have to pay for the power.
"Each day we go on, the air con-
ditioners stay on longer," said Neil
Nelson, construction manager for the
Northern States Power Co. in Sioux
Falls, S.D. "Everybody wants to keep
cool."
UTILITY OFFICIALS contacted in
an Associated Press survey yesterday
said they were managing to meet the
demand for electricity without
problems so far.
Charles Kelly, director of corporate
communications for the Arkansas
Power and Light Co., said a new
nuclear power plant has helped produce
the record amounts of electricity
needed. "You begin to be a little more
nervous the longer it goes on," said
Kelly, "but we don't anticipate any
problems."
An unofficial tally by the AP, com-
piled from local reports, indicates more
than 300 people in 14 states have died of
heat-related causes during the heat
wave, now in its 20th day in some areas.
THE TOLL includes 87 deaths in
Texas, 83 in Arkansas, 33 in Oklahoma,
27 in Tennessee, 17 in Missouri, 14 in
Mississippi, 11 each in Kansas and
Georgia, 10 in Missouri, 14 in Mississip-
pi, 11 each in Kansas and Georgia, 10 in
Illinois, five in Louisiana, four in
Alabama, two each in Kentucky and
Indiana and one in Nebraska.
In Dallas, the temperature has top-
ped the 100-degree mark every day sin-
ce June 23, with the thermometer hit-
ting an average of 105 degrees most
days. In contrast, the average tem-
perature in the period from June 23 to
July 6, 1979, was 97 degrees.
"Some of the bills are as high as 94
per cent greater than the same billing
period of 1979," said Jim Lawrence of
the Dallas Power and Light Co.
HE ADDED, however: "You have to
keep in mind that last summer was ex-
tremely cool for Dallas and we had a 9.7
per cent rate increase last October."
Another Dallas Power spokesman,
Don Wilson, said usage set an all-time
record of 2.29 million kilowatts.
Ed Crosby of the Alabama Power Co.
said, "Homeowners can expect high
bills, but there's no way to estimate a
percentage or money figure yet." He
said demand reached a record 6,760
megawatts of electricity Thursday,
breaking a 1978 mark of 6,670 megawat-
ts. "We are coping," he said.
Kelly said Arkansas Power and Light
will try to help customers. The number
of "cooling hours" during which
customers are using air conditioners is
200 per cent more this year than it was
last year, he said, adding: "We'll have
many people getting well over $200
monthly bills. Certainly we'll try to
cushion the impact." The utility is ad-
vertising a special plan that allows
customers to average payments over
an entire year.
I
6
0
.0
Sizing up the situation At
Maintenance man Dale Hamilton peers down a stretch of street car track
in New Orleans to see if it is straight and level. The old streetcars have
survived the switch to buses and still operate along St. Charles Ave.
Gas venting ends at
Pa. nuclear facility
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)-The gas were released from the crippled
remaining radioactive krypton gas was nuclear plant during the 14-day purge.
vented from the Three Mile Island Arnold said about 40 curies were
nuclear plant yesterday, completing released during the final hours' of the
the first major step in cleaning up the purge. The total release was about
facility since it was contaminated by 14,000 curies less than the 50,000 an-
the nation's worst commercial nuclear ticipated. He said the higher estimate
power accident 15 months ago. was made initially because safety
Meanwhile, an, anti-nuclear judgments were at stake.
coalition said it would continue its legal "The 43,000 figure was more con-
action against the Nuclear Regulatory sistent with what we expected from
Commission for allowing the venting to what we think happened," he said,
take place. referring to the March 28, 1979 accident
"AT 9:30 A.M. WE terminated the that crippled the plant.
venting process," said Robert Arnold, A brief manned entry into the dank,
senior vice president of the radiation-drenched containment
Metropolitan Edison Co. building is scheduled within a month,
About 43,000 curies of the radioactive Arnold siid.-*
6
6
I