How to save energy and prevent power outages

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June 27, 2012|By Pilar Pedraza | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WICHITA, Kan.) — The triple digit temperatures are already causing problems. More than 2,000 people in West Wichita were without power Monday night. Westar Energy says a spike in usage caused equipment to fail.

Byron Shipman and his wife were cooking supper when their house went dark Monday night.

“I called in, they said it'd be two to five hours that they'd be down,” Byron Shipman said. “And nothing happened after a couple of hours so I called again. Then they said there was a line down and it was going to be around 10 o'clock.”

The outage came during peak power consumption hours in Wichita, the late afternoon. The high temps just added to the strain.

“Whenever we do have higher usage, just like any other equipment when it’s stressed or run a little bit harder,” said Westar spokesman Nick Bundy, “we do tend to see a little bit of an uptick in the number of power outages.”

While there's nothing you can do to prevent a problem with the energy company's equipment, there is something you can do to protect your biggest piece of energy consuming equipment, your air conditioner.

“If they've not had it serviced yet, now would be a great time to have their air conditioner serviced,” added Bundy.

“The air conditioner?” said Shipman when asked if he’d had it serviced recently. “Not as regular as the furnace. Out of sight, out of mind.”

That air conditioner accounts for up to 50% of the average Westar bill in the summer. Anything you can do to use it less not only eases the stress on generators but also your wallet.

“We just keep the shades down,” said Shipman. “Try to keep the windows shut as much as possible.”

“Run fans,” suggested Bundy. “You know, things like keeping the doors shut and not letting all the cold air out, that really does work.”

Then, of course, you can always turn the air conditioning to 78-degrees Every degree up saves as much as 5% off your bill.

Westar says its generators are currently operating at full capacity and the city's power grid is in good condition, meaning there should be no more problems with power outages.

Heat Causes Power Problems In Wichita

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