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Con Ed Is Begging Business Owners To Stop Air Conditioning The Sidewalks
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jul 21, 2015
Modified Jul 21, 2015
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By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jul 21, 2015
Modified Jul 21, 2015
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The heat wave of the last two days is expected to break tonight, and Con Edison has restored service to all but 780 of the 20,000 New Yorkers who lost power yesterday, most of them on Staten Island. But that doesn't mean it's open season to behave like a dick, according to the energy giant. The company had been urging customers in areas affected by the likely heat-induced outages to hold off on using washers, dryers, air conditioners, and other energy-sucking devices. Now it's just asking people to use common sense, another resource in short supply around here.
"We would just ask people to use energy wisely, not to use energy unnecessarily," Con Ed spokesman Bob McGee said. "Stores using air conditioners with their doors open and stuff like that—it's not a good thing." No, it is not a good thing, and in some cases it's illegal.
McGee said that crews have fired up generators on Staten Island, but 221 customers remain without power, most of them on the borough's East and South shores. Another 100 or so are without power in the South Bronx, along with nearly 300 in Borough Park, Brooklyn.
Con Edison has throttled down power in Midtown West, and in parts of Brooklyn and Queens, where it has deployed generators. Neighborhoods that still have scattered outages include Corona, Maspeth, Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, East New York, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, and St. Albans.
McGee said an official investigation hadn't been completed, but that all signs point to the heat having fried cables.
"We do typically see spikes in these kinds of events during 90-degree heat waves on the second and third day," he said. "This certainly follows the pattern."
It's only 84 now, according to our pals at The Weather Channel, but it's supposed to get up to 92 later today.
Tagged
air conditioning the sidewalk
con edison
crumbling infrastructure
generators
heat wave
power outage
Nathan Tempey
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