HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s not a bird, not a plane, it’s the A/C repairman who has been working overtime these days as a heat dome prompted the National Weather Service to issue an alert this week.
Local 10 News spoke with Florida Power and Light spokeswoman Bianca Soriano, who shared the importance of keeping your air condition in top conditions as the heat wave continued on Wednesday.
“Your A/C is gonna kick on a lot more often to do the same thing, now, in July and August,” she said. “Maintain your A/C. Unfortunately, this time of year because your A/C is working harder, sometimes it can cause it to malfunction, so make sure you’re changing your filter every month.”
This truly is the time of year when customers will see a spike on their usage, particularly around cooling costs,” she added.
A record-high heat, outside, means more electricity use inside of the home and nearly three-quarters of that on keeping things cool.
“We’re able to pull electricity from our own fleet of plants. Typically, we have reserve available so that we can meet customer demand,” Soriano said.
She advises that residents can help by setting their thermostats between 74 and 78 degrees, which will keep their cooling bill low.
“Every degree you raise it in that range will save you up to 5 percent on your cooling costs,” she said.
South Florida’s forecast warns of highs in the mid-90 degrees on Wednesday, but factor in the humidity, and it could feel as hot as 109 degrees.