New Rochelle power outage a reminder of the struggles power grids face in high heat
The outage seemed to touch some big parts of the city, where some intersection’s lights were out and police were forced to direct traffic.
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Power is back on for thousands of New Rochelle residents Friday night, but could their hours in the dark be a stark warning?
High temps caused about 4,500 Con Ed customers in New Rochelle to lose power, with the heat causing wires on Lincoln Avenue to burn.
The outage seemed to touch some big parts of the city, where some intersection’s traffic lights were out and police were forced to direct traffic.
A spokesperson for the utility says this is the only major outage the area has seen over the past few days of rough heat.
And across the river, utility Orange and Rockland says its grid is reacting just fine amid the weather. Mike Donovan says that means accommodating temperatures this high and beyond.
"To plan for summer heat isn't something you can wake up on June 1 and say, 'Oh, it's going to be hot. What will we do?’” says Donovan.
After each summer, a team of engineers reviews outage and damage reports from the past months to evaluate what circuits need to do better.
That includes $1 billion invested over the last 10 years on electric system maintenance and improvements for reliability.
O&R says they know you’re going to use energy right now, and that’s fine. They say to just use it wisely. They add to keep your bill down and use responsibly, do laundry and dishes at night when there’s less demand, keep windows and doors closed, close blinds and don’t use air conditioning when you’re not home.
