SUMMIT, N.J., July 20, 2020 – The City of Summit and Jersey Central Power and Light are urging residents to take steps to consume energy wisely during the current heatwave to reduce the number of power outages.
Please consider these hot weather tips that can be followed to stay comfortable while using electricity wisely during what is a period of high power demand:
- Set your thermostat as high as comfort will allow, and use fans to stay cool. For every degree you increase the temperature in your home, you can decrease energy use by about 3 percent.
- Draw blinds, shades, or drapes to block the sunlight during the hottest part of the day, especially on south- and west-facing windows.
- Preset your programmable thermostat to keep the temperature in your home higher while you’re away, and to reduce the temperature before you arrive back home.
- Only operate fans and window air conditioners when someone is in the room.
- Keep refrigerators and freezers as full as possible. Frozen or cold items in the refrigerator help keep other items cool, so your refrigerator won’t have to work as hard to maintain temperature.
- Close rooms that aren’t used regularly during the summer. Close the air conditioning vents in those rooms, as well.
- Avoid using heat-producing appliances during the hottest hours of the day. The less heat produced in the home, the less work your air conditioner will have to do.
- Check air conditioner and furnace fan filters. Clogged filters waste energy and money by forcing HVAC systems to work harder than necessary.
- Avoid unnecessary power use by turning off non-essential lights, appliances and electronics.
In addition, if you are currently experiencing a power outage, please report it to JCP&L by clicking here. To check the status of a current outage, click here.