Thursday power usage sets new Alberta record

CALGARY – Soaring temperatures led to a new summer record yesterday in Alberta for electricity consumption.

The Alberta Electric System Operator says consumers gobbled up more than 10-thousand, 800 megawatts of power to try to keep cool.

The agency says typical power consumption on a July day in the province is between 10-thousand, 200 and 10-thousand, 300 megawatts.

It says system controllers handled the load, but they had to import power from Saskatchewan, B-C and Montana.