Forecasts may be moderating, but two major eastern utilities reported setting some new gas and power send-out records Monday. Consolidated Edison (ConEd) pinpointed the average temperature in its New York City area over the 24-hour period of Dec. 20 at 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

That was cold enough for ConEd to set a new record for natural gas use for the month of December. Its send-out for the 24-hour period was 860,841 Dth or about 860.8 MMcf. That topped the record for the month set Dec. 3, 2002 of 797,805 Dth (797.8 MMcf).

PECO Energy in Pennsylvania also contended with whipping winds and temperatures only in the teens. The amount of natural gas used by PECO’s suburban Philadelphia customers Monday was the second highest ever. PECO’s gas send-out was 700.3 MMcf. The only day with greater gas consumption for PECO was Jan. 18, 2000 when usage jumped to 718.3 MMcf.

ConEd also to set a record for a winter season (December through February) peak power load at 6 p.m. on the 20th when 8,962 MW of electric power were used. The previous record was Jan. 15, 2004 when 8,760 MW were used, also at 6 p.m. on that day. ConEd serves 3.1 million electric customers in New York City and Westchester County. Eight of the company’s 10 highest days of winter peak electricity demand — the greatest amount of energy being used at a given moment — were registered in 2004.

On the same day, one day before the official start of winter, PECO delivered 137.7 million kWh of electricity, setting a new winter peak for electric demand at 7 p.m. The demand for electricity peaked at an estimated 6,776 MW, almost 400 MW or 6% more than the highest level for last winter.

Tuesday was not expected to rival Monday’s energy deliveries. The temperatures in New York City, for instance, were hovering around 22 degrees.

PECO Energy, a subsidiary of Exelon Corp., serves 1.5 million electric and 460,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2003, its sales exceeded 36,753 gWh of electricity and 92.3 Bcf of natural gas.

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