APS Meets Challenges of Record Summer Heat

During a summer that included the hottest July on record, APS continued to provide its 1.1 million Arizona customers with top tier reliable service.

According to the National Weather Service, the APS service territories of Phoenix and Yuma in 2009 experienced their hottest months ever this July with average temperatures of 98.3 degrees and 97.5 degrees, respectfully. For the entire summer, there were 26 days of maximum temperatures of 110 degrees or higher in the Valley, compared with an average of 18 in a normal year.

"A reliable supply of electricity is a necessity in the desert,” said APS President and COO Don Robinson. "Our job is to have the resources in place to ensure our customers have the ability to remain comfortable during Arizona’s notoriously brutal summers. We also must remain prepared for monsoon storms, wildfires and other challenges that may impact our ability to provide service.

"As our customer base continues to grow, we must stay ready to address the energy needs of Arizona.”

Among APS’ efforts to preserve, ensure and improve reliability and customer service:

• Strong Palo Verde Operations. All three units of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station operated at full power this summer. This is the third time in the past year-and-a-half the units ran continuously for 100 days or more between planned refueling outages. Palo Verde has been the nation's largest power producer for the past 17 years.
• Storm Preparation and Reliability. While monsoon season in the metro Phoenix area had less of an impact on customers than in typical years, APS employees from numerous areas of the company did respond to major storms outside of the Valley. On consecutive days in July, storms that brought winds up to 100 mph swept through the Gila Bend, Ajo and Dateland areas, taking down more than 160 power poles. Through the end of September, APS customers who experienced power outages saw restoration occur on average about 11 percent faster in 2009 than in 2008. In addition, APS remains a consistent top-quartile industry performer relative to outages per customer.
• Keeping Pace with Growth. In anticipation of meeting 2009 summer demand, APS constructed or rebuilt 94 miles of transmission lines and upgraded several substations around the state. These capital improvements helped APS manage a 2009 system peak of 7,218 MW on July 27. The peak was within 0.5 percent of the pre-summer forecast of 7,254 MW.
• Vegetation Management. As part of its effort to protect the state from wildfire risk and enhance system reliability, the Company cleared brush, tree limbs and other vegetation from more than 800 miles of transmission line corridors.
• New Technology Implementation. APS completed statewide deployment of its Distributions Operations Management System (DOMS). Presently, DOMS capabilities include the capture and dispatch of customer outage calls, including the use of artificial intelligence to group call tickets and aid in the dispatch of company personnel to prospective trouble locations.

APS, Arizona’s largest and longest-serving electricity utility, serves about 1.1 million customers in 11 of the state’s 15 counties. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW)