Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — July's scorching temperatures had New Yorkers using up electricity in record amounts, Con Edison said Tuesday.
Con Ed delivered more electricity, 6.9 million megawatt hours, to its customers in July than any other month in the utility's history. The old record was 6.7 million megawatt hours set in July 2008.
One megawatt is equal to one million watts or enough to power 1,000 homes, according to ConEd.
Despite using huge amounts of energy, no single-day records were set, even on days when the thermometer hit triple digits, the utility said in a statement.
This meant New Yorkers heeded warnings to limit their usage amounts and times, a company spokesperson said.
“We had every reason to expect that we would eclipse the single-day peak record on those 100 degree days, and while we were prepared to deliver the juice, our customers responded splendidly to our conservation appeals and significantly reduced the total consumption,” said John Miksad, Con Edison’s senior vice president of electric operations.
July was one of the hottest months on record, and the National Weather Service has forecasted that August will have above-average temperatures as well.
