The frigid outdoor temperatures were not the only records broken — we also consumed a record amount of electricity.
The rapid consumption of electricity to fend off the cold and boredom sent power suppliers scrambling Tuesday to meet the rising demand.
At one point Tuesday morning,
The record cold temperatures prompted utilities to urge customers to turn off lights and turn back the thermostats.
Utility officials are asking customers to voluntarily turn down thermostats and curb use of electric appliances during certain times to conserve natural gas and electricity during the cold streak.
Officials at Dominion East Ohio, FirstEnergy Corp. and PJM, the electricity grid operator for FirstEnergy and other electricity providers say their requests are precautionary and there are no imminent dangers of lost supplies of natural gas or electricity.
PJM Interconnection, the electricity grid operator for more than 61 million people in 13 states and the District of Columbia, requested the public conserve electricity today, if health permits at specific times, including earlier this morning and again today from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The conservation request includes:
• Set thermostats lower than usual, if health permits,
• Postpone using major electric appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and clothes dryers until mid-day or after 9 p.m., when the demand for electricity decreases
• Turn off electric lights and appliances that you do not need or are not using.
“Conserving electricity on Tuesday will help ensure adequate power supplies. PJM continues to carefully monitor the power supply conditions. It will do everything possible to keep power flowing in the region. If necessary, PJM will take additional steps, such as reducing voltage,” PJM said.
“Extreme cold is driving power use to record levels for the winter and has also caused some generating plants to shut down unexpectedly. This morning, the estimated peak broke the record for the previous winter peak and is poised to go higher this evening. So far, power needs have been met, however in anticipation of high use at peak time later today, we are requesting help from the public to reduce power use,” PJM said.
Jennifer Young, spokeswoman with FirstEnergy, said the electric utility was passing along the request by PJM.
While typically, requests to curb electricity come during the hot summer months, Young said, electricity is still used in the winter and when the temperatures are cold, furnaces and space heaters are working more and when more people are staying home due to school and business closures, appliances and lights are used more also.
Young said there have been no call for utilities to institute measures such as brown-outs or rolling blackouts, but the preventative measures can help conserve energy.
Young said FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 1 tripped off Monday night around 5 p.m. due to a problem with the main transformer, which takes the power produced by the plant and converts it to voltage to be used in the distribution system. There was not a nuclear plant issue and FirstEnergy officials are working on determining the issue with the transformer, she said. The unit was still offline Tuesday afternoon, however, there was not a direct impact to customer power as a result of the shutdown, Young said.
Dominion East Ohio officials have asked the public to voluntarily turn down thermostats and lower settings on hot water heaters as a precautionary measure, but spokeswoman Tracy Oliver said it was out an “abundance of caution” and the utility did not anticipate any supply concerns.