Vinlec records highest power usage levels

April 18, 2007 has been recorded as the day that placed the highest demand ever on electric power production in this country, with a peak of 19.91 Mega Watts being recorded. This was 750 kilo Watts above the maximum previously experienced in energy consumption.{{more}}

In a press conference last Tuesday, Manager of St Vincent Electricity Services (VINLEC) Thornley Myers announced that this record breaking reading was “unusual” for this time of the year since they normally experience their highest demand for electricity in the months of October and November.

He explained, “What we are seeing is not just a flash in the pan, 19.19 Mega Watts has been threatening. The months leading up to April and on the 18th when this actually occurred, we saw the meters reading 19.4, 19.5, 19.6, and they were hovering around 19.7 and suddenly on the April 18th they got up to 19.91.”

The VINLEC CEO said that this was an overall 11.12% increase and if the trend continued, the fuel import bill would be much higher this year. Myers pointed out that the domestic sector had a 9.54% increase in energy usage, the commercial component raked in a 14.24% increase and the industrial sector 4.77%.

The CEO said that he would have liked the 14.24% rise to have been in the industrial sector because it would have indicated that more energy was being used for productive purposes.

He pointed out that as this country moves more to a service driven economy, this may have been the reason why there has been a higher increase in the commercial sector rather than the industrial sector.

Myers called on everyone to get involved in the energy conservation programme, of which the use of the energy saving bulbs is part. He noted that some 166,112 energy saving bulbs from the Cuban government had been installed over the last four months.

The CEO said that some people may question how could there have been an increase in energy consumption in the domestic sector when there were so many energy saving bulbs in use, but he suggested that perhaps people with energy saving bulbs were leaving their bulbs and electrical appliances on longer.

Myers said that their practices needed to change if they wanted to see lower costs on their electricity bills. He also said that he would love to see a delay in the installation of additional engines at Lowmans Bay because it would mean that the money could be used to explore areas such as wind energy.