PEARL RIVER, NY July 18, 2019 1 p.m. — After a brief beak in the week’s steamy temperatures today, oppressive heat and humidity are due back in full force tomorrow and intensifying through the weekend.
Electric supplies are sufficient to meet the projected demand for electricity during that period, and O&R crews are ready to respond to any outages that occur.
To cope with the simmering forecast, O&R is providing these cool tips to help its neighbors stay comfortable and save money on energy: http://bcove.me/k6m1zxe9
Here are more cool tips:
- Turning down or turning off air conditioning in your home while you are away or at work helps lower your energy bill.
- Setting your air conditioner to the highest temperature your comfort and health allow. Every degree you lower the thermostat raises your bill by 6 percent.
- Adjusting your air conditioner’s fan to a low setting can make you more comfortable. It’ll take longer for the air conditioner to cool your home, but your unit will bring in steamy air at a slower rate.
- If you have already received a new smart meter, you can take advantage of viewing your detailed energy usage and customized energy savings tips located in your online account at oru.com.
- Closing all doors and windows in your home while the air conditioning is running can make things cooler at a lower price.
- Cooking, baking or other household activities that produce heat and humidity are best left for the cooler times of the day and night.
- Pulling your curtains and shades closed can help block out the heat.
- Covering liquid items in the refrigerator is best. The humidity they give off forces the refrigerator to use more energy.
- Placing the most used items in one place in the refrigerator helps keep the door open for a shorter period of time.
Cooling Centers
The New York State Department of Health website features a list by county throughout the state of cooling centers that are available locally to provide hot-weather relief for the general public.
Find that list by using this link. Always call the cooling center to make sure it is open before you attempt to visit it. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/weather/cooling/countycenters.htm#rockland
In New Jersey, the statewide 211 information organization has posted the following link to its website where it maintains a list of cooling centers, where available, by county.
https://www.nj211.org/nj-cooling-centers
Energy Efficiency
To help its customers use electricity this summer as wisely as possible, O&R is promoting a number of energy efficiency programs for residential, small business and commercial and industrial customers.
Among those programs is O&R’s online store. The My ORU Store www.myorustore.com is a digital marketplace that offers O&R’s residential customers a wide variety of energy-saving household products including LED lights, water/energy saving devices, advanced power strips, smart thermostats and connected home products. Home services are available from local customer-recommended contractors offering a/c tune-ups and thermostat installations. The My ORU Store makes saving energy and money, both easy and affordable.
O&R has prepared to meet high summer demand for electricity with continued investments in projects that improve electric service reliability and the further development of energy efficiency programs that help customers use less energy, save money and reduce their carbon footprint.
For example, O&R has made investments totaling over $145 million this year to fortify and improve the reliability of its electric system. That investment builds on the nearly $1 billion O&R has invested over the past 10 years on electric system maintenance and reliability projects.
Report Outages
If you have a power outage, you can report it and check to see when your lights will be back on through:
- At www.oru.com from any computer or web-based mobile device.
- O&R mobile app from your iPhone, iPad or Android device
- Text messaging by texting “OUT” to 69678 (myORU) or
- Call 1-877-434-4100.
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, is a regulated utility. It provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company), and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.
