There are more than 1.7 million housing units in Maricopa County, which means there are a lot of air conditioners running all day and all night.
Especially this week, which the National Weather Service says will probably have some of the highest temperatures so far in Phoenix for 2019, with highs remaining in the triple digits well into the evening.
SRP spokesman Scott Harelson says the hot temperatures have us approaching the record for energy usage, with an expected peak usage of 7,050 megawatts. That comes close to their all-time record of 7,300 megawatts on July 25 of last year. APS reported similar numbers.
Harelson says the risk of outages is low, since SRP purchased reserve energy and has backup generators standing by.
