Highlights
- APS customers drew 9,164 megawatts between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, a new all-time peak for the utility.
- The previous record of 9,053 megawatts had been set just 11 days earlier, on July 24.
- Phoenix reached 115 degrees Sunday, one degree above last year's record high for the date.
- APS manages supply in real time through a dedicated operations desk and purchases additional generation as needed.
Arizona Public Service customers set a new all-time peak energy demand record Sunday, drawing 9,164 megawatts between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., the utility announced Tuesday. The record fell less than two weeks after the previous high of 9,053 megawatts, set July 24.
APS says one megawatt powers roughly 160 homes. At Sunday's peak, the grid was carrying enough load to supply approximately 1.47 million households simultaneously.
Phoenix hit 115 degrees Sunday, breaking last year's record for the date by one degree, according to the National Weather Service. Yuma reached 114 degrees, seven degrees above normal. Afternoon highs ran between 110 and 120 degrees across the lower deserts and 95 to 110 degrees across higher terrain.
An APS spokesperson said the utility runs a real-time operations desk to coordinate supply moment to moment, buying additional generation when demand spikes and selling excess capacity when available. The utility draws on a mix of resources, including nuclear power from the Palo Verde Generating Station west of Phoenix.
The record has now been broken twice this summer. ABC15 and azfamily.com both reported the dual-record summer, with APS confirming the figures in a newsroom release Tuesday.
No outages were reported in connection with Sunday's demand spike. The next extended heat event and its effect on grid load will be the figure to watch.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- AZ Family (3TV/CBS5) retrieved 04/08/2026 21:18
- aps.com retrieved 04/08/2026 21:18
- ABC15 Arizona retrieved 04/08/2026 21:18
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 04/08/2026 21:18. Every claim traces to a source.
