Air conditioners were cranked to an all-time high to match the record-challenging heat wave across Polk County in July. And that caused the area’s electrical demand to hit an all-time high.
Lakeland Electric broke its all-time summer peak with a demand for 762 megawatts of power on July 29, said Tory Bombard, LE’s assistant general manager of production. The temperature reached 99 degrees that day, according to NOAA data from an observation station at Lakeland Linder Airport.
“We didn’t have any records,” Bombard said at an Aug. 1 Utility Committee meeting. “With the heat index, it feels like 111 out there. It’s hot.”
The municipal-owned utility’s last recorded peak demand was 757 megawatts on Aug. 9, 2023, Bombard said.
The heatwave across Polk County and Central Florida caused the price for purchased power to increase. Bombard said it went from $43 a megawatt-hour up to an average of $76.58 per MWh, spiking as high as $171.78.
“We had some very expensive purchase power costs from that time period,” she said.
Bombard said she estimates that LE spent about $5.5 million to purchase power to serve its 140,000 customers in July. This energy was purchased from a pool with other municipal power companies, producing and transmitting power to Lakeland customers.
Technically speaking, Lakeland Electric has enough generational power to meet demand on its own. The utility’s various units are capable of producing a maximum of 782 megawatts, according to statistics provided by LE.
Cathryn Lacy, LE spokeswoman, said the utility had 534 megawatts of Lakeland-owned power generation online during the July 29 peak, between 3 and 5 p.m.
The utility chose to purchase 231 megawatts through the Florida Municipal Power Pool. The pool manages power dispatch, determining which generators are most cost-efficient to run.
“It’s worth noting that our local generating capacity still brings significant value,” Lacy wrote in an email. “Even if we aren’t running every unit, having that capacity available, sometimes called ‘steel on the ground,’ helps us secure lower market prices and ensures we’re prepared if conditions change.”
As a result of the demand peaks, Lakeland Electric came to the city’s Utility Committee, which consists of several citizen representatives and all city commissioners, asking for permission to raise the fuel rate.
The City Commission approved a fuel rate increase from $41.50 to $43.50 per 1,000 kilowatt-hours at its Aug. 4 meeting, to take effect on Sept. 1. This will increase the average residential customer’s bill by about $2.40 per month, for those who use 1,200 kilowatt-hours.