Alliant urges conservation with continued hot weather

    Interstate Power and Light Co. (IPL), an Alliant Energy company, announced again Tuesday it would cycle air conditioners for all participating Iowa customers. Weather conditions were such that from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. customers enrolled in the Appliance Cycling program had their air conditioner cycled in 15-minute intervals to reduce overall energy usage.

     Participating residential customers have a small control switch placed on or near their central air conditioner. When necessary, Alliant Energy sends a signal to all the switches in the state. The control switch will cycle the outdoor cooling unit off and on every 15 minutes. The furnace fan will continue to circulate the cooler, drier air already in the home.
     For those Alliant Energy customers who do not participate in the appliance cycling program, the company is encouraging customers to conserve energy.
    Temperatures on Monday and Tuesday exceeded 95 degrees.
     Alliant Energy does not expect to reach the record peak demand of 3699 megawatts set on July 18, 2011. In addition, it is not expected that there will be a shortage of energy supply, nor reliability issues for customers.