Load growth expected to continue as new peak numbers final

Basin Electric Revenue Analyst Sharon Lipetzky reported the new all-time winter billing peak is 130 megawatts above last winter's billing peak.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - February 17, 2012

It’s been an unusually mild winter throughout Basin Electric’s service territory, which usually means load levels remain steady or decline from previous years. However, loads within the membership continue to grow. Sharon Lipetzky, Basin Electric revenue analyst, reported Basin Electric’s system hit a new all-time winter billing peak in mid-January.

Lipetzky said this year’s winter billing peak was 2,828 megawatts (MW), surpassing our previous all-time high billing peak by 130 MW. That increase includes a new 75-MW sale started last November to Basin Electric member Tri-State G&T Association. Without that sale included, the new billing peak would have been 55 megawatts above the January 2011 member billing peak of 2,698 megawatts.

Dave Raatz, Basin Electric manager of marketing and power supply planning, said a number of factors affected the new peak. “While temperatures were quite mild throughout most of our membership region resulting in lower billing peak sales to most members, there were some cold snaps in western North Dakota where oil development continues at a dramatic pace. The oil development loads within the service areas of members Upper Missouri G&T and Central Power Electric Cooperative were up about 167 MW over their last year’s billing peak levels,” Raatz said. He added that electric heat usage related to the FEMA temporary housing around Minot, ND, also added to the load increases in this area.

Raatz said his group is currently working on a new load forecast. “If we get cold weather throughout the entire membership next winter, we are predicting next winter’s billing peak could be 300-400 MW higher than this winter.”

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