As the mercury peaks, so does the electricity usage at Baker University.
Baldwin City purchases electricity from Kansas City Power and Light during heavy usage times, Baldwin City Power Plant Manager Rob Culley said.
Gary Walbridge, director of physical plant, said when Baldwin City exceeds the peak usage, the city incurs a fine, which it passes on to Baker.
“They see what our highest usage is,” Walbridge said. “Most of the time it causes the city to break the peak. KCP&L fines the city and they pass it on to us because we’re the ones that cause it.”
Walbridge said the fines come out of the physical plant budget, but it isn’t a one-time payment.
“If we were to break the peak today, from this day forward, we would have to pay an extra $1,000 per month for the next 12 months.”
Culley said the university is Baldwin City’s largest customer, and that the energy use is monitored closely during the summer when energy demand is at its highest.
Walbridge’s campus e-mails have been sent out when the university was nearing its peak number of 1,177 kilowatts per hour.
“If the meter’s cranking up, they call us and in about 20 minutes they see it drop,” Walbridge said. “We ask everybody to turn off lights and turn from 75 to 80 degrees.”
To save more energy Collins Center can be shut down, but Walbridge said that step hasn’t been taken yet. Refrigeration and cooking in the cafeteria makes Harter Union the largest consumer of electricity on campus, Walbridge said.
Irwin Hall Resident Assistant Tiffany Cornett said she takes steps to use less electricity and assumes the women in her hall are doing the same.
“I turn down my air conditioner when I leave my room and I turn things off,” she said. “At night I’ve been turning off the lights in the hallways.”
Culley said the steps being taken to conserve electricity seem to be working.