Hot Child In The City

That heat wave in the Northeast (and it's supposed to be worse tomorrow) brings up a question:  global warming aside, our infrastructure needs some help, and part of that is America's power grid.

"We are anticipating a potential record breaking day for electric usage," said John Miksad, senior vice president with Consolidated Edison Inc of New York. "It's not a record we're hoping to break and we are encouraging conservation among all of our customers."

Even though generation supplies were more than ample to meet forecast demand, heavy usage of some power plants and distribution lines could leave some stewing in the heat without power.

Con Ed, with more than 3.2 million customers, had about 1,500 homes and businesses without service earlier Tuesday as the temperature topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees C).

Miksad pointed out his company has about 93,000 miles of underground cable that can be vulnerable to damage caused by heat trapped underground.

The state-owned New York Power Authority (NYPA), meanwhile, activated its demand response program, which pays large business and government customers, like Citibank and New York City, to cut back on energy usage during heat waves. In that way, the power grid doesn't come under too much stress which can cause blackouts.

"(NYPA) has taken the steps necessary for ensuring that we're prepared to meet the challenges of the summer when the gap between demand for power and available generating supplies narrows the most, and generating and transmission facilities are most heavily utilized," NYPA President and CEO Richard Kessel said in a release.

But remember, we can't spend money on this because it might hurt the bond traders or something.  Meanwhile, record power consumption continues.  If only there was a large entity that could regulate power across all 50 states...