As Blast mentioned the plants come on line during summer months to provide for air conditioning. They are then probably powered down (put in hibernation) for the season. Yes, they probably can be powered up if the bean counters figure it's good for the utility's bottom line -- not necessarily the customer's best interests. My opinion, no idea how utilities make those types of management decisions, but $$ bottom line will be a major concern.
In fairness, it may not only be dollars. It can take a week or two to take a plant that's essentially mothballed and get it online; you can't bypass the checklist for safe and stable operation. It takes a fair bit of coordination between many utilities to get fuel in and power out. Also, there needs to be adequate "main plant" capacity to balance the inductive vs. resistive loads and keep the system stable. So, it's very different from just spooling up a plant that's already on standby. You can't just fly by the seat of your pants.
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