Grid operator asks US Gulf Coast utilities to expect hot weather
May 10 (Reuters) - The operator of the U.S. Midwest electric grid on Thursday told power companies in its Gulf Coast region to suspend all transmission and generation maintenance from May 14-16 when hot weather is expected to boost air conditioning demand:
* The Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc, or MISO, said it issued the request because temperatures in the region are expected to reach the low 90s Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) during that time and cited an unusual amount of forced generation outages.
* The Gulf Coast or MISO South region includes utilities in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The biggest utilities operating in that area are units of Entergy Corp .
* MISO said the grid has enough power reserves to meet peak demand during the summer air conditioning seasons.
* The MISO grid covers parts of 15 U.S. states from Montana and Minnesota south to Louisiana and Texas, and the Canadian province of Manitoba.
* Some of the biggest energy companies in the MISO region, include units of Entergy, Ameren Corp, Duke Energy Corp , CMS Energy Corp, DTE Energy Co, Xcel Energy Inc and WEC Energy Group Inc.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Richard Chang)
