Baby Steps!

On Monday, July 27th, the New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) was expecting to reach a peak of 25.5 Giga Watts, but it only got to 24.907 Giga Watts.   That’s still a lot of power (24,907,000,000 Watts); however, that was almost a 2.4% reduction for all of New England.

In Wellesley, The Wellesley Municipal Light Plant (WMLP) was expecting the coincident system peak to be over 61 MW, but it only got to about 59.67 MW! Thank you to all that participated to help to keep the system and local peaks lower. 

Were you wondering why the WMLP chose to have the peak time from 3 to 7 PM?   In recent years, the peak time has been around 4 PM, but prior years it was earlier, thus they picked 3 PM as a safe starting time to capture the capacity peak. The transmission peak is the highest peak load hour, each month, reached by the Wellesley system. That hour has been typically between 6 and 7 PM.  That is why the Shave the Peak event lasted until 7 PM.

To get a refresher on what this program is all about, or to find out WHEN the next Shave the Peak Event is, please go to Shave-The-Peak or follow them on Twitter @MLPWellesley.  This website also offers answers to frequently asked questions, and other helpful resources.

Remember that on peak days, ISO-New England turns on the oldest, most expensive, and dirtiest generating plants to meet the high demand in all of New England and we don't want to be part of that. Let's take even bigger steps to lower our energy usage.  Share the news because you will be saving money too!