IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Riverside Public Utilities is asking its residential and business customers to reduce the amount of energy they use this summer.
That request is part of the utility’s Power Partners program, which has been in place for four years, said Heather Raymond, utility spokeswoman.
About 30 to 35 businesses and an undetermined number of residential user participate in that program. Typically, a user will shift all or part of its electric load to late night or early morning in order to ease the burden on the utility.
Utility officials are concerned about how much power Riverside might lose during the peak summer months because of the natural gas leak at the Alyso Canyon natural gas storage facility near Porter Ranch, the second-largest natural gas storage facility in the United States.
That leak lasted four months before it was brought under control in February. Now, any utility that receives energy from the Alyso Canyon plant must take precautions in case it doesn’t receive as much energy this year as it usually does, Raymond said.
“We’ve always gotten good cooperation whenever we’ve asked our customers to cut back on their electricity use,” Raymond said. “We call people and tell them we’re getting close to our limit and that we’re looking at rolling blackouts and they cut back. We’re a lucky city in that regard.”
The utility’s peak months are July through September, when air condition use is at its highest, Raymond said.
Any Riverside resident or business interested in becoming a Power Partner can sign up at RiversidePublicUtilities.com/PowerPartners.
