SAN ANTONIO – Angela Cordoba, who owns Freshest Ice Creams, said she first started to notice her ice cream melting in the freezers two weeks ago.
“For these hot summers, it’s getting too hot even for the freezer,” Cordoba said.
She said she had to come up with a quick solution that keeps her ice cream from melting but doesn’t rack up her electricity bill. She bought two fans — one aimed at the freezer and one at customer seating.
“I think I’m even going to buy one more,” Cordoba said.
San Antonio is seeing extreme heat. CPS Energy declared Wednesday and Thursday as “Yellow Days,” asking customers to conserve energy during the peak hours of 3 to 8 p.m.
KSAT 12 News requested from CPS Energy a breakdown of how many days since the official start of summer had been classified as “Yellow Days.”
A spokesperson with CPS Energy reported that since June 21, 13 days have been “Green Days,” 11 days have been “Yellow Days” and no days have been declared orange or red alerts.
James Taylor, an electrical project manager for Jon Wayne Service Company, said he’s not surprised.
“Summer hit us very quickly,” Taylor said.
Taylor said usage of the power grid peaks during the summer months, and right now, he classified the grid as “overworked.” But he said small changes like using fans can make all the difference.
“Anything you can do to keep that AC system from continuously running is definitely not only gonna help the grid, but it’s going to help your electricity bill,” Taylor said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the temperature inside the Freshest Ice Creams shop was 79 degrees. Cordoba said sometimes it gets so hot inside the shop that she has to stop making ice cream until it cools down.
“We make sure the thermostat is at least at 77 to prepare ice cream,” Cordoba said.
She said it’s hard, but the summer heat drives up business.
“It’s too much, but this is my season to do ice cream,” Cordoba said. “All I need to do is maintain my ice cream and [make sure] my customers get some comfort.”