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Mesa is asking its electric customers to conserve energy during peak hours in the face of soaring power costs.
Mesa electric utility customers are likely to see bill increases but can help lower costs by reducing their energy consumption during the peak hours of 3 to 8 p.m., per the city.
Mesa provides electric power to about 13,500 residential customers and more than 3,000 commercial customers, including city facilities, within about 5.5 square miles centered around downtown Mesa. The bulk of the city gets electricity from private providers like the Salt River Project.
The city purchases its electric supply on the market and does not run its own electric generators, making it largely dependent on market conditions. Electricity costs have increased across the southwestern United States because of population growth, more energy use and the transition to new energy sources that don t provide as much during peak hours, putting Mesa in a tough spot.
What happens in California doesnât stay in California?
It becomes a matter of supply and demand â and, as any beginner economics student will tell you, when the latter outpaces the former, prices will go up.
So it is that the 17,000 city of Mesa Electric Service Area customers are likely to be paying more for their electric bills in coming months.
Mesa Electric is being âsqueezedâ by California to the west and Texas to the east; droughts, heat waves and cold snaps have drained reserves, increasing prices that places like Mesa pay on the âwholesale energy market.â
âWhat happens in California affects us,â Anthony Cadorin, city energy resources coordinator, told Mesa City Council during a study session last week.