Con Edison Tells Customers to Avoid Outages and Conserve

After Day 5 of the stifling heat wave, electricity usage narrowly missed hitting its all-time peak record. 

Con Edison reports that customers used 13,161 megawatts on Thursday, almost reaching the peak record of 13,189 megawatts set on July 22, 2011.

Con Edison is asking its customers to wisely use air conditioning and electricity during the intensely hot weather streak.

Con Edison says their crews have working in the heat to restore power to customers experiencing scattered outages. There were about 11,500 restorations as of 6 p.m. on Thursday since this sticky weather started.

Some of Con Edison’s large customers, who are enrolled in demand response programs and paid to cut back on power usage during heat waves, are credited with reducing peak demands by 400 megawatts.

Con Edison offers the following tips to save energy and money: 

• Use a timer or clock thermostat on your air conditioner to conserve usage.

• Close off rooms that aren’t being cooled by the air conditioning unit. Those with central air should block vents in unused rooms. 

• Cook, bake and perform other household activities that produce heat and humidity during cooler times of the day and night. 

• Did you know a fan uses 90 percent less energy than an air conditioner? Portable or ceiling fans can be used to circulate pre-cooled air.

• Use your air conditioner at a low fan setting.

• Curtains and shades should be used to block out the heat

Con Edison will have extra crews and personnel on hand to take care of any outages over the weekend. Outages should be reported to www.conEd.com or 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). 

You can also download Con Edison’s free iPhone and Android app for outages statuses and the outage map.