Bitter cold helps SCE&G set power usage record
COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - This week's cold weather helped South Carolina Electric & Gas set a record for one-day power usage.
The utility said its customers used 101,118 megawatt hours of electricity Tuesday as lows dipped into the single-digits and teens and highs failed to get above freezing across most of the state.
The combination of high demand and weather-related failure of generating equipment forced SCE&G to use 15-minute rolling blackouts for the first time Tuesday morning to prevent more outages.
The previous record of 98,785 megawatts was set on Aug. 10, 2007, when the high in Greenville was 105 degrees and the high in Columbia was 107 degrees. Most of the state had seen several days of highs over 100.