CALGARY --
Calgary blew past its previous energy usage record Monday thanks largely to an increased use of air conditioners in the current heatwave.
The previous record of 1692 megawatts was set  August 10, 2018.  It was eclipsed at about 2 p.m. Monday when the power drain in Calgary hit 1719 Mw and kept climbing.
By 6 p.m. it had hit 1737.
According to Statscan, in 2017 over 60 per cent of Canadian households had air conditioning.
By contrast, in 2013 under 20 percent of Calgary homes had air conditioning. By 2017, that was up to 24 per cent and if summer energy use is any indication, it continues accelerating.
“Some time back we transitioned from a winter-peaking to a summer-peaking utility," said Andre van Dijk VP of strategic planning for Enmax. “That's certainly the case that we've seen a lot more air conditioners, and they and they do consume quite a bit of energy: 3.5 kilowatts is typically the size of an air conditioning unit. So you can think of those devices that take a lot of electricity, a hot tub is in that class.”

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