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Not Enough Electricity for Growing U.S.

Following a summer in the United States which led to power grids in such places as Queens in New York City failing to keep up with the demands of customers using their air conditioners to the max, a new report in America by the North American Electric Reliability Council warns that power companies are not building enough power plants or power lines to keep up with a growing country`s demands. The population of the United States reached 300 million people on October 17, and many have warned that the U.S. is already running out of space to house people.

In the report, the NAERC said that the amount of power that which is able to be generated and transmitted would drop below the target levels meant to ensure reliability on peak days of usage in states such as Texas and the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions over the next two to three years. The NAERC estimates that demand for power in the United States will increase by about 19 percent over the next 10 years.

The problem, according to the report, is that utility companies have contracts for existing or new power plants for only about a third of the capacity that will be needed over that coming decade. The NAERC recommends that utilities should pursue financial incentives for customers to cut electricity usage during peak hours, and in so doing lower overall demand for new power plants and transmission lines which cannot or will not be built. Why this would be better than simply building more power plants or power lines wasn`t apparently mentioned.