Australian Electricity Demand Rises to Record on Cold Weather

Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Australia experienced record demand for electricity late yesterday as cold weather swept across the most-populous southeastern states.

Demand on the national electricity market reached 34,416 megawatts at 6:30 p.m. local time yesterday, about 3 percent higher than the previous record of 33,352 megawatts, set July 17 last year, Paul Bird, a spokesman for the National Electricity Market Management Co. said today. Demand in New South Wales, the most-populous state, also reached a record, he said.

Yesterday was one of the coldest days this winter for much of southern and eastern parts of Australia, Weatherzone, a weather news and forecasting service, said on its Web site. Penrith and Liverpool, west of Sydney, had their coldest day in two years, while Adelaide, the South Australian capital, had its second-coldest morning in 20 years at 1 degree Celsius (34 Fahrenheit), it said.