Peak power demand and summer gas use records fell during the week ending Aug. 12 in New York City as heat pushed temperatures well above 90 degrees, Consolidated Edison reported. Con Edison broke a weekly power demand record when 1,567,147 MWh of electricity were used by its 3.1 million customers from Monday, Aug. 6, through Sunday, Aug. 12. The week also included the highest-ever hourly peak demand, 12,207 MW, reached at 3 p.m. Thursday. The Con Edison system delivers energy to an estimated 8.9 million New York City and Westchester County residents.

“In the face of six straight days of temperatures over 90 degrees, which created historic demands on our resources and intense working conditions for our employees” the ConEd system performed well with the help of conservation by its customers, said President Kevin Burke.

Con Edison is spending $483 million this year on its electrical transmission and distribution system as part of a five-year comprehensive $2.4 billion program to enhance reliability and improve infrastructure. The distribution system includes more than 89,000 miles of underground cables, 34,000 miles of overhead lines, 250,000 manholes and service boxes, 25,000 underground transformers and 201,000 utility poles.

The company also established two new gas system records and recorded its highest summer one-day delivery for 2001. On Thursday, a new summer total gas system daily delivery record of 1,077,858 Dth was achieved. Also on that date, the company exceeded its previous record for the amount of gas used for electric and steam generation by 7.5%, reaching 904,638 Dth. The Con Edison gas system supplies more than 1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, northern Queens, and most of Westchester County and serves 4.6 million New Yorkers.

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