Xcel Energy fell below its targeted power reserves Thursday as Coloradans sweltered under another day of triple-digit temperatures.
While Xcel was able to supply all its customers and reported no major outages Thursday, record demand for power caused the utility to fall well short of the 16 percent reserve mandated by state regulators.
During peak power demand late Thursday afternoon, Xcel’s reserve fell to about 11 percent, spokesman Mark Stutz said.
The diminished margin still left ample power for all customers, he said.
“The system is holding up remarkably well considering the temperatures and the demand for power,” Stutz said.
The reserve shortfall is not viewed as a regulatory violation because the margin is intended to govern Xcel’s power requirements over a period of months and years, not individual days, said Public Utilities Commission spokesman Terry Bote.
Most regulated utilities in the United States have a mandated reserve to provide a cushion should the utility experience generator failures, downed transmission lines, planned maintenance or unusually high power demands from extreme weather.
Xcel’s peak demand Thursday for its statewide power system was 6,785 megawatts, breaking the record of 6,655 megawatts set Tuesday. One megawatt serves about 1,000 households.
The record occurred despite Xcel’s use of voluntary programs to curtail power deliveries to commercial and residential customers in exchange for bill credits.
Because of the high demand, Xcel purchased an undisclosed amount of electricity Thursday from independent power producers in an effort to keep its reserve as high as possible, Stutz said.
Xcel would not disclose the amount of power purchased for competitive reasons, he said.
Daily or short-term power purchases typically are more expensive than the power generated from Xcel’s own facilities or from long-term contracts with outside producers.
In a planning document filed last year with Colorado regulators, Xcel said it plans to generate or purchase an additional 3,600 megawatts of power from 2007 to 2013 to accommodate growth in its Colorado system.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
