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June 4, 2002
EARLY SUMMER HEAT PUSHES JEA TO NEW RECORD SUMMER PEAK
The early arrival of hot weather, coupled with Jacksonville's continued growth, drove the city's need for electricity today to a new summer high. Yesterday's record of 2,507 megawatts (MW) is JEA's new record for summer peak electric demand, exceeding the former summer record of 2,481 MW set on July 20, 2000. What this record means is that Jacksonville needed more electricity today than any other summer day in history.
Summer peak records are generally set in late July or early August. Setting a new summer record in early June is unusual, so this record may be broken again before the summer ends. JEA's all-time peak electrical demand record of 2,732 MW was set on January 3, 2001.
High temperatures and high electric loads place a great deal of stress on the parts of an electric system such as generators, transformers and wires, are all affected by heat and high loads. JEA's system has performed extraordinarily well under these conditions.
It has been more than twelve years since JEA customers have seen any increase in electric rates. However, for May and June, customers may see higher electric bills because of higher electric usage for air conditioning during the recent hot, dry weather.
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