Crime & Safety

PSE&G Urges Customers to Watch Energy Use in Arctic Cold Snap

High demand is causing the utility company to ask customers to slow their electricity use Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Customer demand for energy in the current frigid cold front is putting a strain on the electrical grid. PSE&G is asking customers to conserve their use of electricity Tuesday, particularly between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. when at-home demand surges.

The conservation request is being made to electric utilities throughout the region 
by PJM Interconnection, the electricity grid operator for more than 61 million 
people in 13 states and the District of Columbia, PSE&G said in a statement.

In the event that demand strains supplies, PJM may "reduce voltage" - an effect otherwise known as a brownout. Customers may see lights slightly dim for several minutes or longer in a brownout situation.

Pleas to conserve energy use are common in hot summers, but they also apply during particularly frigid cold spells. That's because of energy customers who use electricity, and not natural gas, to heat their homes.

PSE&G said their all-time peak winter demand for electricity was 7,195 megawatts set on Feb. 5, 2007. They don't anticipate that Tuesday's cold weather will eclipse that record.


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