Some New Yorkers woke up without lights Thursday morning as Con Edison reported scattered power outages due to heat.
About 1,500 customers across the city were affected, according to the company’s website, with an outage in Rego Park, Queens affecting 990 residents in a small quadrant of blocks between 62nd Avenue and the Long Island Expressway.
Temperatures Thursday were slated to reach the mid-90s around the Big Apple, as the third day of a late summer heatwave continued to simmer the region.
Con Edison spokesperson Allan Drury said the outages are caused when hot air temperatures combine with strain on the system, overheating the equipment itself.
“When we have heat like we had the last several days and will continue today, you get more demand on the system, because people need to use their air conditioners to stay safe and comfortable,” he said.
Drury said the load on the electrical system reached an all-summer high yesterday of 11,834 megawatts at 6 p.m. Thursday’s load is forecasted to reach 11,900. It’s still a ways away from the all-time New York City high of 13,322 megawatts, which occurred during a heatwave onJuly 19th, 2013.
Until temperatures start cooling off Friday, Con Edison is asking customers to be conscious of their energy usage.
“We always want customers to conserve, because it’s good for their bills, it’s good for the environment,” Drury said. “The need to conserve becomes even more important because of everything we’ve discussed here, it helps to keep the system more reliable.”
The company recommends that residents keep their air conditioners on, but set to the highest comfortable temperatures. Other appliances that use energy such as washing machines and dishwashers should be used later in the evening, as temps start to cool.
Drury said outages in this weather are inevitable, but that power should be back on soon for anyone affected.
“Our job is just to respond and keep the outages short in duration and…
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