The first warm weather in some time has utility managers ready to start up the summer alert program. Kevin Waetke is spokesman for MidAmerican Energy.He says when they start to notice demand rising during summer months, they implement a peak alert. It’s a reminder to customers to turn their thermostats upward, and run appliances later in the day when electric demand is no longer at its peak. Waetke says it’s in your own best interest to heed those notices from the power company.He says when customers hear a peak alert and cut their energy use, it’ll trim the electric bills during summer months. Waetke says using peak alerts can also help the utility avoid paying for too much energy capacity. If the company can’t meet the demand for energy it may have to buy power on the open market, and Waetke says that’s more costly electricity. MidAmerican serves 673-thousand electric customers and 650-thousand natural gas customers in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota.
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