ALBANY - New Yorkers pushed the statewide demand for electricity to a new peak Wednesday, topping records set a day earlier as utilities asked customers to shut off lights and appliances to ease the strain and avoid service interruptions.
Only scattered minor heat-related outages were reported upstate, but about 20,000 National Grid customers lost power when afternoon thunderstorms crossed Lake Ontario into central New York ahead of the cold front coming Thursday.
“Tomorrow's not going to be quite as hot because there's going to be a lot of cloud cover,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Kilpatrick said. The cold front should reach the Adirondacks by late morning and Long Island by late Thursday night, he said.
An hour before highs reached 98 degrees in Poughkeepsie at 3 p.m., the heat set off the fire-suppression system at the Thruway's Malden Travel Plaza's gas pumps in the Hudson Valley. The Mobil station had to close until the system was recharged and inspected.
“It was just due to the extreme heat,” Thruway Authority spokeswoman Sarah Kampf said. “The water pools in the canopy. It sets off the sensors.”
The Saratoga Race Course canceled thoroughbred racing Wednesday afternoon because of the heat, though the Saratoga harness track slated evening races.
The Independent System Operator that oversees the state power grid reported a record 33,939 megawatts of average electricity usage between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., topping Thursday's late afternoon peak by 60 megawatts.
Emergency afternoon cutbacks by some big commercial and industrial customers in New York City and Long Island saved about 665 megawatts to maintain an operating reserve there.
Similar steps saved about 420 megawatts from Syracuse west to maintain voltage support for the system, ISO spokesman Ken Klapp said.
In the Syracuse area, National Grid for the second day asked customers to reduce unnecessary electricity usage until nightfall by setting air conditioners at higher temperatures, limiting use of major appliances, closing blinds and turning off unneeded lights.
Spokesman Steve Brady said their nearly 1.6 million customers across New York broke the utility's year-old usage record on Wednesday between noon and 1 p.m., using 6,692 megawatts, which dropped after the storms came through, downed trees knocking some service out and rain cooling the Mohawk Valley. “So we ended up with some fairly significant outages, but they weren't heat-related. They were storm-related,” he said.
National Grid expected to restore service to most customers Wednesday night. “Obviously we're kind of depending on any further weather that may roll through,” he said.
At New York State Gas & Electric, with 860,000 customers mostly in the Southern Tier and Central New York, and at Rochester Gas & Electric, with 359,000 in nine counties, spokesman Clay Ellis said he was aware of no significant heat-related interruptions Tuesday, when both utilities set new usage peaks, or Wednesday.
“We've had some small things like a transformer that overloads, but nothing at all major,” Ellis said, adding that usage probably went higher still Wednesday, but data weren't immediately available.
On Monday, before the two-day heat wave, both subsidiaries of Energy East Corp. suggested customers shut off air conditioners when they leave home, set those thermostats at 78 degrees or higher and consider using fans instead.
Central Hudson Gas & Electric, with about 290,000 customers in the mid-Hudson Valley, had no brownouts, blackouts or operational problems while setting new peaks Tuesday and Wednesday, spokesman John Maserjian said. “We had some scattered power outages that were heat-related but they were minor,” he said, mainly involving local transformers.
A state emergency operations center opened Tuesday, but there were no immediate requests for state assistance, said Bill Peat of the State Emergency Management Office.
New York City and many counties opened public buildings as air conditioned cooling centers for people who didn't head for malls, stores or museums.
Fees were waived Wednesday at all state parks and day use areas with swimming beaches.
“Tomorrow's not going to be quite as hot because there's going to be a lot of cloud cover,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Kilpatrick said. The cold front should reach the Adirondacks by late morning and Long Island by late Thursday night, he said.
An hour before highs reached 98 degrees in Poughkeepsie at 3 p.m., the heat set off the fire-suppression system at the Thruway's Malden Travel Plaza's gas pumps in the Hudson Valley. The Mobil station had to close until the system was recharged and inspected.
“It was just due to the extreme heat,” Thruway Authority spokeswoman Sarah Kampf said. “The water pools in the canopy. It sets off the sensors.”
The Saratoga Race Course canceled thoroughbred racing Wednesday afternoon because of the heat, though the Saratoga harness track slated evening races.
The Independent System Operator that oversees the state power grid reported a record 33,939 megawatts of average electricity usage between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., topping Thursday's late afternoon peak by 60 megawatts.
Emergency afternoon cutbacks by some big commercial and industrial customers in New York City and Long Island saved about 665 megawatts to maintain an operating reserve there.
Similar steps saved about 420 megawatts from Syracuse west to maintain voltage support for the system, ISO spokesman Ken Klapp said.
In the Syracuse area, National Grid for the second day asked customers to reduce unnecessary electricity usage until nightfall by setting air conditioners at higher temperatures, limiting use of major appliances, closing blinds and turning off unneeded lights.
Spokesman Steve Brady said their nearly 1.6 million customers across New York broke the utility's year-old usage record on Wednesday between noon and 1 p.m., using 6,692 megawatts, which dropped after the storms came through, downed trees knocking some service out and rain cooling the Mohawk Valley. “So we ended up with some fairly significant outages, but they weren't heat-related. They were storm-related,” he said.
National Grid expected to restore service to most customers Wednesday night. “Obviously we're kind of depending on any further weather that may roll through,” he said.
At New York State Gas & Electric, with 860,000 customers mostly in the Southern Tier and Central New York, and at Rochester Gas & Electric, with 359,000 in nine counties, spokesman Clay Ellis said he was aware of no significant heat-related interruptions Tuesday, when both utilities set new usage peaks, or Wednesday.
“We've had some small things like a transformer that overloads, but nothing at all major,” Ellis said, adding that usage probably went higher still Wednesday, but data weren't immediately available.
On Monday, before the two-day heat wave, both subsidiaries of Energy East Corp. suggested customers shut off air conditioners when they leave home, set those thermostats at 78 degrees or higher and consider using fans instead.
Central Hudson Gas & Electric, with about 290,000 customers in the mid-Hudson Valley, had no brownouts, blackouts or operational problems while setting new peaks Tuesday and Wednesday, spokesman John Maserjian said. “We had some scattered power outages that were heat-related but they were minor,” he said, mainly involving local transformers.
A state emergency operations center opened Tuesday, but there were no immediate requests for state assistance, said Bill Peat of the State Emergency Management Office.
New York City and many counties opened public buildings as air conditioned cooling centers for people who didn't head for malls, stores or museums.
Fees were waived Wednesday at all state parks and day use areas with swimming beaches.
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