By today, a “cool” spell was expected to grip Texas, plungingtemperatures down to around 100. A nice respite from the 105-plustemperatures that stilled the state and sent electricity peak loadsto new records last week for the third time this year.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), an industrycoalition that administers the state’s power grid and serves 85% ofthe state’s electric load, reported Friday that preliminary numbersindicated that electricity usage reached an all-time peak high forthe third time in 44 days last Thursday, with Texans using 57,731MW of power. Of course, that was before the weekend, whentemperatures were expected to climb as high as 112 at somelocations in the state — just in time for Labor Day picnics.

The new usage record last Thursday broke the previous record setthe day before, on Wednesday, when consumers used 55,994 MW ofpower. The two broken records broke a record set just six weeksearlier, July 19, when Texans used 55,796 MW of power.

Peak load in August 1999 was 54,849 MW of power, while peak loadin August 1998 was 53,689 MW of power.

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