A program to manage electricity demand had resulted in more than 200 commercial energy customers being prepared to give up their entitlements to electricity at times of peak demand in return for a payment, Ripper said.

The government-owned utility will pay for the capacity that is relinquished under the scheme but it will only draw on that capacity if there is an electricity supply crisis.

While the full cost has not yet been determined, it will be more than the utility receives for selling the equivalent amount of electricity.

The initiative was only one of several plans by Western Power to cope with potentially higher peak demands this summer. Maintenance has been rescheduled, emergency standby oil-fired generators have set in place, and millions of dollars of distillate supplies have been ordered.

Western Power and the Gallop Government – which faces an election in the next four months – have been feeling the heat over a supply crisis last summer when the utility ordered commercial and residential air conditioners to be turned off when temperatures in Perth soared to more than 40C in a bid to retain the integrity of its system by avoiding load shedding.

The order cost businesses millions of dollars in lost output and caused huge inconvenience and resentment across the community.

During the crisis, demand had reached a record 3004MW – 140MW higher than the previous peak.

Western Power had experienced modest growth in baseload demand but very strong growth in peak demand, according to Ripper. This was mainly because of a surge in the sale of cheap, inefficient household air conditioners – a problem that has been replicated all around Australia.