Load Curtailment

We’re asking members to reduce electricity consumption if they can in a collective effort to help provide relief to our Midwest electric grid. Adams-Columbia may be directed to curtail load causing members to experience electric interruptions this summer.

What is a load curtailment?
A load curtailment is a planned, controlled interruption of service that occurs when there the power generation supply cannot keep up with the demand of electricity on the regional electric grid. Curtailments move from one area to the next so that power isn’t out for too long in one location. In our case, this includes the Midwest region of our country. Weather in other areas of the Midwest may dictate when load curtailments happen and is out of our control. Load curtailments may be required based on regional electricity demands, not based on ACEC’s distribution system.

Why can’t electricity supply always match consumer demand?
Typically, electricity is available at the flip of a switch. But you may not realize the electricity you use is forecasted, planned, and purchased before it makes its way to your home or business. The electric grid must be maintained at a certain frequency. When extreme temperatures drive up electricity demand, the grid may not be able to keep pace. That’s why load curtailments can help rebalance the grid, without having to shutdown larger, widespread areas. Load curtailments are a last resort but prevent serious damage to the grid.

Who initiates load curtailments?
Midcontinent Independent System Operators (MISO) makes the decision if load curtailments need to be initiated. Alliant Energy, our wholesale power provider, is part of MISO. MISO is responsible for managing the generation and transmission of electricity within 15 U.S. states and Manitoba, Canada. They ensure the right amount of electricity is being generated, not just for Alliant Energy customers, but for all of the electric companies that are part of MISO. However, when there is more demand for electricity than normal, MISO alters their operations to avoid overloading the electric grid resulting in the call for load curtailments.

The 15 states that MISO covers are Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. They also cover Manitoba, Canada as well. To learn more about MISO, please visit their website.

How do they happen?
When abnormally hot weather occurs, home cooling and other electronics are working overtime to ensure they’re doing their job. For example, home thermostats may be set to 71 degrees in the summertime. When the outside temperature reaches high 90’s, your home cooling system is working much harder than it typically would to ensure your home continues to stay at the cool 71 degrees.

Extremely hot days in the forecast and increased peak demand lead to an alternative plan of action for MISO, who has a multi-step action plan for these peak demand times. Each step is carefully coordinated as the need for electricity escalates.

What is ACEC’s process for initiating load curtailment?

• We would receive notification from our power provider, Alliant Energy, who is notified by MISO that a load curtailment is necessary.
• We won’t know how much time we have before we need to implement our plan. We notify our staff and directors so they are prepared to assist members.
• Our operations department determines what load needs to be shed (we won’t know if we need to reduce a certain amount of load on our system overall, or if it will be based on a certain transmission line or area of our service territory.)
• Once it’s determined where and how much needs to be reduced, our staff will prepare and send notifications to our members through SmartHub, on our website, and on our Facebook page. We anticipate that outages would last 1-4 hours, however there are many unknowns for us in a situation like this as well.
• As far as load size and what types of services this will impact, we may not have control over what is shut off. MISO will tell us where the stress is at on the transmission level, and that will determine what substation and feeders will need to be shut off.
• As updates become available, notifications will be sent out to members and posted on our website and Facebook page.
• If time and resources permit, we may dispatch crews to substations and feeders to restore power.
• Once the load curtailment is complete, notification will be sent out to members and posted on our website and Facebook page.

What’s the difference between a load curtailment and a rolling blackout?
A load curtailment is a controlled situation with a plan in place while rolling blackouts happen unexpectedly and are uncontrolled. We prefer to conduct curtailments, so we know what’s going on with the situation instead of having Alliant or MISO force members out of power without our knowledge or our control to handle the situation.

If a load curtailment isn’t happening, why are you asking members to conserve energy now?
We are encouraging members to conserve energy now to help prevent a load curtailment from happening. It’s always a good idea to conserve energy when you can.

We’ve experienced extreme heat and cold in the past. Why is it different now?
We understand that we’ve experienced heat waves in Wisconsin before, and that is nothing new. If load curtailments occur, it’s deemed necessary by MISO’s operations as they monitor our entire Midwest region.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) publishes reliability assessments regularly, which includes key data in what is happening with the industry.

What is ACEC doing to reduce their electric load?
Our office is up and running, as are many other homes and businesses. A/C is necessary for days like today when temperatures are in the 90’s. We’re not asking our members to completely turn off their A/C units and all electricity at this time. At ACEC, we’ve tested our back up generation and are confident it runs smoothly should a load curtailment occur. We encourage all members to have a plan in place. If we’re directed that we need to reduce our load at our office, we will take the action necessary to do so and run off of generators as we would with other outage situations.

What can members do to stop load curtailments from happening?
We encourage members to reduce their electric usage. However, this is an industry issue driven by policy makers. We encourage our members to get involved with Voices for Cooperative Power and make your voices heard by submitting a letter to congress and sharing on Facebook to encourage others to do the same. There are new regulations in place that create challenges like this for the electric industry.

Are load curtailments caused from coal plants shutting down?
To explain this situation at a high level, the industry is shutting down coal plants at a faster rate than new power plants and energy demand can keep up with. Although our power provider, Alliant Energy, is continuing to build new power plant facilities, federal mandates are forcing our industry to adjust at a pace that just isn’t reasonable.

How long will it last?
If we receive indication from Alliant Energy that we need to reduce our electric load, we hope to receive more detailed information on the duration of the load curtailment. We estimate that the duration of an interruption of service may last 1-4 hours.

What can ACEC control?
We communicate to our members the importance of reducing electricity consumption. We continue to work closely with Alliant Energy, who we purchase power from, to minimize the impact on our members. Asking our members to decrease electricity consumption is not a decision we take lightly; and a load curtailment will only occur if ACEC is directed to do so for the safety of the regional grid.

We’re in a tough spot for a situation like this because we don’t generate our own power. We purchase power from Alliant Energy. In a normal outage situation, we may be able to supply power to members from a different substation on our system. But this scenario is different since it’s a decision that is determined by MISO and is out of our control.

Is there anything Alliant Energy can do?
Alliant Energy has interruptible customers who have agreed to have their power reduced if needed. They also schedule generator outages to avoid expected periods of high demand and can encourage their customers to voluntarily reduce their energy usage during peak demand.

Alliant Energy and ACEC’s goal is that nobody loses power, but periodic – and temporary – power outages are an extreme final step that, if MISO deems necessary, may be declared to prevent widespread outages when there is too much demand on the system. If MISO initiates this step, these interruptions, which could last a few hours, would occur across the MISO region in a way that minimizes the impact to customers and considers critical services such as hospitals.

What is ACEC’s power generation mix?
We don’t generate our own power. We solely purchase power from Alliant Energy. You can view their energy mix on their website.

How do members sign up to receive notifications?
If we send our automated phone calls, you wouldn’t need to sign up for a notification. Just as long as we can your most up-to-date contact information, you’re all set. You can update your information through SmartHub or give us a call at (800) 831-8629 and one of our customer service representatives can update your account. While you’re in SmartHub, review the notifications you’re signed up to receive and enroll in notifications you’d like to receive in the future.

What if I have a medical device or need a cooling center?
Continue to use electrical devices that are necessary for life support. Please consider making alternate plans in case interruption in electric service becomes necessary. To locate a cooling center near you, which may offer electric hook up, please visit 211’s website.

We always recommend having a backup power supply if you have a medical condition, aside from load curtailment situations. As much as we’d love to guarantee power 100% of the time, unfortunately there are forces out of our control that may cause power outages and we want our members to be prepared. If a curtailment does occur, we will do our best to keep it a short duration. Preparations should be made by those with medical conditions no different than how you may prepare for a storm that could cause outages.

If you or someone you care for is dependent on life-supporting medical devices, make a plan in case service interruption becomes necessary. We also encourage you to share the information with others who could be affected but may not receive ACEC updates, for example, an elderly neighbor or a loved one.

How can I charge my electric vehicle?
We recommend charging EV’s during non-peak hours from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

I have solar and generate my own power. Why am I being affected?
Although you generate some of your own power, your electric service is still interconnected to our system, which means when the sun isn’t shining, you’re getting your power from ACEC or from power you have stored in a battery. Unless you were to completely be off the grid and remove all of your services from ACEC, you still get power from us and are a member of our co-op.

I’ve never had this issue with other power providers. Why is this happening to ACEC?
This is beyond ACEC’s control and is an industry-wide issue, not specific to only our service area.

All of the food in my refrigerator and freezer are bad. Is ACEC going to pay for that?
Since we cannot guarantee power 100% of the time, we are not responsible for those losses. We recommend keeping the doors closed on those appliances to keep the cold air in, and if you do have a loss, contacting your home owners or renters insurance company.

I work from home, what am i supposed to do?
We understand that a lot of our members work from home now. A load curtailment is much bigger than the operations we have going on at ACEC. It’s completely out of our control, and we’re doing the best we can to help alleviate some of the stress on the electric grid. If there are public places to conduct business, we recommend having a plan in place should a situation like that occur, just the same as you would if a severe storm hits our service area.

Will my electric bill be less?
As with any other power outage, we cannot guarantee power 100% of the time due to forces out of our control. If we experience a load curtailment, it’s a decisions that MISO deems as necessary and is completely out of our control. If your service experiences an interruption of service (just like any other power outage), your service wouldn’t be using kilowatt-hours (kWh) during that time period, leading to less usage during that time frame compared to normal.

What can members do to reduce their energy?
Here are a few tips to reduce your energy during the dog days of summer:

• Instead of using your dryer, hang clothes outside to dry
• Grill meals outside instead of cooking indoors
• Reduce the temperature of your water heater
• Increase your thermostat a few degrees
• Close blinds and avoid opening exterior doors to keep cool air indoors
• Use a power strip to turn off electronics that aren’t being used
• Wait until later in the evening to use bigger appliances and electronics that required electricity to avoid the peak demand period

Everyone’s lifestyle is different, so we can’t exactly say something may be less important for you to use compared to someone else. We recommend reviewing the list of energy-saving tips on our website to see where you can conserve energy.

In addition to reducing your electric consumption, have an emergency kit ready as you would with any other power outage situation. Items you may want to keep in your emergency kit include:

• Emergency phone numbers
• Flashlights
• Water and nonperishable foods
• Blankets
• First-aid kit
• Common tools
• Personal hygiene products
• Clothes
• Items for your pets

We appreciate your cooperation and greatly appreciate your reduction of electricity during peak demand times.