SC utilities say energy use down, despite the heat
SOUTH CAROLINA - South Carolinians are cutting their energy use this summer, despite the heat.
The State reported the four major utilities serving South Carolina say energy use is either flat or down a bit, compared to last summer.
South Carolina Electric & Gas says residential use is down about 2 percent. Spokesman Robert Yanity says the economy is affecting the utility's 650,000 customers in the Midlands and Lowcountry.
State-owned utility Santee Cooper says peak use has been down 10 percent this year, compared to the hottest days last year.
Duke Energy's Paige Sheehan says the Charlotte utility expects sales to be flat. Duke has 600,000 customers in the Upstate.
Progress Energy says residential sales are growing, but industrial sales have dropped. Progress has about 200,000 customers in the Pee Dee.
Related News
Electricity restored to 75 percent of customers in Puerto Rico
PUERTO RICO - Nearly six months after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, the island's electricity has been restored to 75 percent capacity, according to its utility company.
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said Sunday that 75.35 percent of customers now have electricity. It added that 90.8 percent of the electrical grid, already anemic even before the Sept. 20 storm barrelled through the island, is generating power again.
Thousands of power restoration personnel made up of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), industry workers from the mainland, and the Army Corps of Engineers have made…
