Hydro advised today that the peak for the Hydro System this morning was 1,406MW and occurred shortly after 7:30 a.m. Yesterday, Hydro was forecasting a morning peak for today of 1,450MW.

“It appears that customer conservation efforts helped reduce the peak we saw on the system this morning,” said Dawn Dalley, VP Corporate Relations. “Every action helps and we do appreciate that people are pitching in.”

Hydro wishes to thank all customers – business and residential – who conserved by doing things like dialing back their heat a few degrees and turning off unnecessary lighting.

Very cold temperatures are ongoing, therefore Hydro is continuing to forecast very high electricity demand (peak loads between 1,400MW and 1,500MW) on the island until Thursday evening. Customers are requested to continue taking steps to conserve electricity where possible, as a precautionary measure.

Residential and business customers on the island are asked to avoid unnecessary electricity usage and reduce their consumption as much as possible from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the next three days.

Residential customers can assist by doing the following:
1. Reducing electric heat by a few degrees
2. Conserving hot water by not running dishwashers, washers and showers
3. Avoid using clothes dryers

Business customers can assist by doing the following:
1. Only heat spaces when and where necessary – reduce temperatures or shut off heating in vestibules, stairwells, lobbies and unused spaces.
2. Reduce equipment use during peak periods
3. Reduce lighting – turn off outdoor safety and security lighting at the start of each day and turn off non-essential indoor lights, outdoor signs, billboards and other lighting.

Although Hydro does not anticipate any additional concerns with its generation, there is a potential that rotating outages may be initiated during peak demand if any additional generation issues arise. Please assist by conserving energy wherever possible.

Hydro thanks customers for their support and cooperation at this time.