Electricity Reliability Problems and Solutions

What is Electricity Reliability?

• Adequate electricity – the ability of the electricity transmission system to supply the power and energy demands of consumers at all times.
• Secure electricity – the ability of the system to withstand sudden disturbances.
• Blackouts. August 2003 saw the largest blackout to date, affecting an estimated ten million people across the Northeast and Midwest United States and Ontario, Canada. On June 14, 2000, the San Francisco Bay Area experienced rolling blackouts that shut off power to 97,000 customers. The summer of 1999 saw major power outages hit in places like New York City, Chicago and New Orleans. A multi-state blackout in the West in 1996 affected 7.5 million customers, some for as long as nine hours.
• Brownouts. To avoid blackouts during high demand periods, utility companies across the country urge consumers to conserve energy and to shift energy-intensive tasks to off-peak energy demand hours. They may cycle power and order interruptions for business customers with curtailable or interruptible service.

Why are there problems now?

• Increased use of electrical power by consumers and businesses. We have more people, more gadgets per person, and more buildings with greater demand for air conditioning than ever before. The peak electric load in summer is driven by air conditioning. Sub-par efficiency in America’s air conditioners makes blackouts more likely.
• Poor restructuring of the electricity industry. Reliability has deteriorated under restructuring. Impending restructuring of the electricity industry and related competition caused utility companies to slash investment in energy-efficiency programs by nearly 50 percent since 1993. The energy savings and peak demand reduction such programs could have provided are exacerbating the nation’s current capacity crunch.
• Overloaded, congested power system. The transmission system now expected to serve as the "superhighway" for a national power market was not designed for this purpose. It was built piecemeal to serve the in-state customer of regulated monopolies. It suffers from bottlenecks that can prevent power from getting to places that need it and local weaknesses susceptible to overload during peak summer demand.
• Heat waves. Warmer weather patterns and simultaneous heat waves combine to put a strain on the nation’s electricity grid.
• Governmental inaction on enacting stronger efficiency standards for residential air conditioners and public benefits funding for energy efficiency in state and federal legislation.

What can we do to become part of the solution?
Government at all levels, utility companies, business, and consumers are all part of the problem and together can be part of the solution.

The federal government and Congress can help by:

• Quickly promulgating new efficiency standard for residential and commercial appliances and equipment.
• Including a public benefits fund in electric utility restructuring legislation to support efficiency programs.
• Increasing funding for Energy Star and other efficiency programs at the Environmental Protection Agency and the U. S. Department of Energy.
• Enacting tax credits for energy efficiency and other clean energy technology.

State and local governments can help by:

• Creating public benefits funding for energy efficiency in utility deregulation legislation.
• Working with the federal government, private industry, and utilities to promote Energy Star and other efficiency programs.
• Adopting the International Energy Conservation Code for new buildings.

Utilities can help by:

• Promoting energy efficient air conditioning, windows, and appliances.
• Promoting air conditioner service and testing programs to bring existing systems up to par.
• Offering load control and thermal storage incentives to customers.
• Investing in distributed generation such as fuel cells or solar electric technology.

Business can help by:

• Modernizing lighting to put less demand on air conditioning – T5 lighting with electronic ballasts and compact fluorescent bulbs where there is incandescent recessed or other lighting – provides quick payback period.
• Getting professional annual service on existing air conditioning systems to make sure they run at peak efficiency.
• Adjusting thermostats to not overcool the work environment.
• Investigating the possibility of curtailable or interruptible service rates with your utility company so that non-essential equipment can be cycled off. Business can get a monthly credit for this service option.
• Considering distributed generation, such as fuel cells, which provide reliable, efficient, and clean power.

Consumers can help by:

• Buying Energy Star room air conditioners and central air conditioning systems, windows, and appliances. (visit www.energystar.gov for product information and store locators)
• Getting professional service on existing air conditioning systems and cleaning or changing system air filters every month to make sure they run at peak efficiency.
• Using programmable thermostats to adjust temperature settings according to daily and weekend patterns.
• Running clothes washers, dishwashers, other electric appliances outside of peak hours.