ELECTRIC power spikes have begun, starting on Wednesday, the first scorching day of temperatures over 37 degrees Celsius this summer. The city’s power supplier said yesterday measures are being taken to ensure power supply.

The power demand during peak hours on Wednesday was 29,113 megawatts, a sharp rise of over 2,000 megawatts from Tuesday, while yesterday it was 29,360, said Shanghai Electric Power Co.

The city’s three largest DC transmission stations — Nanqiao, Huaxin and Fengjing — were operating at full load and transmission capacity hit 7,160 megawatts in total at peak moments, while their entire amount of electric power transmitted over 24 hours reached 172 million kilowatt hours, which were all generated by water.

The company told Shanghai Daily that local power plants have been reducing their capacity for years for environmental protection reasons and increasingly more clean energy has been transmitted into the city.

During the spike on Wednesday, about half of the electric power was from out of town.

The company said it has been taking measures to cope with more hot days to come and will make power supply to households a priority. Every day, 1,600 employees will be on duty at 173 spots around the city, distributed according to past statistics of power failures, the company said.

In downtown Shanghai and most of the areas within the Outer Ring Road, repair workers can reach users in need within 30 minutes after they have called 95598 in case of power failure or discovery of damaged power facilities, the company said.

Shanghai Water Authority said yesterday that the city’s water supply set a record on Wednesday at 9.31 million cubic meters, with 6.15 million to urban districts and 3.16 to suburban areas. The authority said it has been taking measures to ensure undisturbed water supply to all areas.