BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) With temperatures approaching and in some cases exceeding 90 degrees in Western New York Wednesday, we received some encouraging words from Dave Bertola, spokesman for electricity supplier National Grid, who told WBEN, "the grid is strong."
The heat wave is straining the power grid for a wide swath of the country.
But Western New York is holding its own. "Sometimes when there is a lot
of load on a system, due to heat, customers tend to crank the air conditioning and run pool filters. We can run into issues with the hotter weather. That's where the system can get taxed," added Bertola. But he said he did not see anything out of the normal that is heat related, as of mid-day Wednesday.
National Grid encourages customers to conserve energy, which helps everybody, and allows the utility to maintain its electricity delivery system.
"Our electricity system is strong and doing well right now." But Bertola did offer some energy saving tips for consumers.
*We all have our favorite thermostat setting. Maybe bump it up a few degrees so that your air conditioner is not working so hard.
*Close windows and shut the drapes so the sun is not shining inside.
*Turn off lights, appliances, TVs, audio devices and computers when not in use
*Don't leave chargers plugged in if they're not charging your devices. They're still drawing energy
*Make sure to only run full loads in the dishwasher and dryer and don't forget to clean the lint filter after each use.
