ST. LOUIS — "It does happen," Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman, Scott Rupp, told 5 On Your Side. "It happened, a year, year and a half ago during the winter and the cold."
Kansas City, Missouri experienced rolling brownouts in February of 2021. Rupp said the energy company has to choose certain areas for temporary outages.
When asked about the possibility of a failure, Rupp said the heat-related threat is much different than a winter power outage.
"We don't anticipate it happening now. It's a very low percentage, but we always are watching especially during these extreme weather events."
Extreme weather events on either side of the spectrum test the limits of power systems. Ameren Missouri's Director of Distribution Operating, Lucas Klein, described the power grid.
"If you think of the power grid in terms of a system of roads or highways, when you have extreme heat situations, air conditioners are on, more of them are on and running longer, it's kind of like rush hour on the power grid. It's becoming a heavy load situation, a peak load condition. So yeah it stresses the grid," he said.
Klein said the system is designed for conditions similar to extreme heat.
"Specifically in the Midwest and Missouri, we have enough generation to cover our demand, our customers use at this time."
The forecast is hot, but it's cool for outages.
"We don't foresee that happening right now," Klein added. "If something changes, we'll let everyone know as soon and promptly as possible."