The sound of summer can be heard throughout downtown Burlington. It's air conditioners that are under heavy loads in order to keep you cool.
As it gets hotter this week, New England utilities expect demand to reach the third-highest level on record, on Friday.
Dottie Schnure with Green Mountain Power, says we use the most electricity between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
"It's a lot of heat, and a lot of humidity, several days in a row, and that's why they're looking at one of the top 3 use days," says Schnure. She adds, "If you can cut back on power use during these peak use times, it helps keep utility costs lower, and helps reduce the amount of carbon we put in the atmosphere."
A graph at Green Mountain Power Wednesday showed the demand for electricity from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. The green line was flat at first, until about 11 a.m. when it started to rise, and it rose consistently into the afternoon, as it got hotter and more people turned their air conditioners on.
The longer your AC is on, the more you pay. "Air condition use is a big piece of their summer component on their bill,"says Bob Murphy with Efficiency Vermont.
Murphy recommends other options to keep you cool and also save money.
"A fan to run for three months is about five dollars, compared to an air conditioner which costs about thirty-eight dollars over the course of the cooling season," explains Murphy.
He says watch out for leaks, seal around windows to keep the heat out.
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