BOISE, ID (CBS2NEWS) — As temperatures rise across Idaho, Idaho power is feeling the heat as well.
"I think we are very prepared for the heat wave," said Russ Weedon, Idaho Power community education representative.
During the summer, people use more electricity which can mean higher bills. Although Weedon says, you can do a lot to cut down your power use.
"This is the time of year where we talk about conservation in our homes, especially in the area of air conditioning, cooling our homes and businesses," said Weedon. "This is where we talk about using ceiling fans, where we talk about closing curtains and blinds during the heat of the day, especially on the east and west side of your house."
If you live in a rural area, you probably won't need to worry about losing power. Weedon said Idaho Power have fantastic line and construction crews monitoring the system 24 hours a day.
"Our system has over a 99.9% reliability factor, so we do keep the lights on even in some of those remote areas," said Weedon.
Energy officials in Texas are asking Texans to use big appliances less or face major outages like they did in the deadly 2021 winter storm. Many wonder if that could happen here in Idaho.
"We have energy traders that are out on the wholesale market preparing to purchase power to compensate for our loads and just making sure we are informing our customers as well to conserve power to help us during those peak times of the year, which is now," said Weedon.
With high temperatures comes the threat of wildfires to Idaho Power's infrastructure. Weedon said Idaho Power crews are clearing vegetation and attaching fire retardant mesh around power poles.
"Certainly we can't prevent the wildfires but we can certainly prevent the damage it can do to the infrastructure," said Weedon.
Cyberattacks against utility companies are also on the rise and threaten power, but Weedon says they're monitoring that risk too.
"One of the fastest growing departments in our company at Idaho Power is our cybersecurity department," said Weedon.
Idaho Power has numerous resources on their website to help save your energy, which can save you money. The website also has grid and reliability information as well.
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