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Powering Arizona’s Summer with Reliable Energy
How planning, preparation and partnerships help meet customers’ needs
No one wants to sweat through triple digit temperatures.
What we expect is the air conditioning to kick on, fans to blow cool air, and cold beverages to stay chilled in the refrigerator.
These are the days APS plans for all year long – and years in advance, in fact.
Our employees are laser-focused on those oppressively hot summer days in the low desert when our customers use the most power.
Last year, our record day for highest energy use occurred on July 11. The temperature hit 115 degrees in the evening and APS customers used more energy than any other time in 2022.
Keeping the lights on year-round, but especially on our most sweltering days, doesn’t happen by accident. Deliberate planning starts 15 years earlier with our resource management experts playing a critical role. These skilled planners look ahead, track our customer energy needs, forecast summer temperatures and make sure we have the power supply needed to keep you comfortable in your home.
Deliberate planning for the future
Times are changing and the way your utility plans is becoming more complex for many reasons, including our rapidly growing state and rising demand for energy across the region. Customers can count on us to plan ahead and use multiple tools in our toolbox to provide the most reliable power. Our proactive resource plans include:
- A reliable mix of power sources: we use diverse, increasingly clean energy to provide the most affordable power to customers. The backbone of our resource mix, Palo Verde Generating Station, is the largest producer of energy in the country – all of it 100% carbon free.
- Flexible, dispatchable resources like natural gas and battery energy storage help us meet growing demand while we incorporate renewable power to bring you the most value.
- We have a broad energy footprint to pull from and purchase power from regional partners – including hydroelectric from the Pacific Northwest and wind energy from New Mexico.
- Every minute of every day, our employees seek out the best deals on the energy market to save customers money.
Preparation is key
It takes an incredible amount of preparation to ensure reliable service. Our crews monitor and patrol thousands of miles of poles and wires within our system using technology – from drones and robot dogs to infrared imaging – to identify necessary maintenance and preventative measures. We also take extensive precautions to reduce the risk and protect our electrical system from wildfire threats, including clearing space around poles and removing hazardous vegetation.
Partnering with customers
Our customers play a huge part in helping us keep the lights on for more than 1.3 million homes and businesses in Arizona. Customers are our partners and participate in voluntary energy conservation programs that help us meet demand on our most scorching summer days. When our highest triple-digit temperatures hit, a network of 75,000 smart residential thermostats in our Cool Rewards program quietly works as a virtual power plant to keep air conditioners cranked. Last year alone, Cool Rewards participants conserved energy by raising their thermostats just a few degrees to help shed nearly 110 megawatts of electricity from our system —about as much energy as a small power plant.
Every day, reliable
We can’t control the weather or other conditions. Storms will blow in. Wildfires will spark. Equipment will fail in extreme weather. What we can control is learning from the past to design for tomorrow and do our best, every day, to honor our commitment to supply the reliable service our customers expect, when they need it most.
If you or someone you know is struggling to pay the energy bill, we can help. Learn more and see if you qualify for assistance programs, including our Energy Support program, at aps.com/assistance.
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