Manhattan, NY - Con Ed Has Power Dip After Surge in Usage

By BILL HUTCHINSON Daily News Staff Writer

Much of Manhattan experienced a power dip early this morning, causing lights to flicker and knocking out some cable TV stations  barely seven hours after Con Edison recorded its third-highest electrical usage.

The dip in power occurred just after midnight.

"We had a momentary, or instantaneous dip in the system due to a problem with a transformer," said Con Ed spokesman Joe Petta.

Petta said the power drop, which affected Manhattan from Midtown to the Battery, occurred when the electrical load shifted from the broken transformer to backup transformers.

There was no immediate explanation why the problem caused some cable TV stations to go blank or fuzzy. There were no immediate reports of problems at area hospitals.

The problem came as technicians were repairing feeder cables that had caused Con Ed to reduce power to the upper East Side yesterday.

The utility asked several large upper East Side customers  including Mount Sinai Medical Center  to switch to their own generators.

The day's citywide high for the utility was 11,231 megawatts, reached at 5 p.m., Petta said. The high temperature for the day was 88 degrees, and the low was 74.

Con Ed hit its all-time power-usage high  11,850 megawatts  on the day of last year's Washington Heights blackout.

Three feeder lines went out in the East Side's Yorkville yesterday, forcing Con Ed to reduce voltage by 8% to ease the load. Affected areas spanned from Fifth to Lexington Aves. and from E. 78th to E. 110th Sts.

The utility is asking customers to use only essential electrical appliances. The lines were expected to be repaired by early today.

http://www.nydailynews.com/2000-06-27/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-71420.asp

-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), June 27, 2000