PSEG CREATES A VOLUNTARY AIR CONDITIONING CYCLING PROGRAM FOR LONG ISLAND

By JUSTICE CAMPBELL

Today’s high summer temperatures and high humidity on the east coast will not effect the residents of Long Island, NY. On August, 12th, 2016 PSEG Long Island activated a voluntary Thermostat Energy Conservation Program and Smart Savers program to reduce loading on the system, helping to create savings for customers. Since then about 28 MW were reduced in 2016 during peak times over the summer months. Thus equipping Long Island with enough electric capacity to meet customer demands for today’s high temperatures and high humidity.

 

Michael Voltz, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy for Long Island said, “In order to generate the most savings for our customers the voluntary program needs to be implemented on the highest load day of the summer. Today’s high temperatures and high humidity have the potential to create higher loads with the possibility of being the highest peak load this summer.”

 

The most savings for Long Island customers will occur if implemented on the highest load day of the summer. PSEG Long Island’s load forecasts and state-mandated capacity requirements are based on peak-usage levels from previous years. To lower the amount of power to be purchased in advance for next summer residents must reduce peak usage in the present year.

There are two programs Long Island residents can participate in between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. dependent upon the program they are enrolled in. One will experience a four degree increase in temperature setting or a 30 minute on- and off- cycling of their central AC systems. Air conditioner fans will operate continuously to circulate cool air. So far approximately 35,000 customers have elected to participate.

Today’s projected capacity savings is for approximately 34MW which would equate to about $2.2 million savings in 2018. Activating this program can also allow PSEG Long Island to fully assess the program’s capability to reduce demand in cases of emergency need to help maintain reliability. Scattered heat-related outages are sometimes caused by high temperatures and high electric demands.

Customers who experience an outage should call 1-800- 490-0075.

If you have any questions, please call PSEG Long Island’s Smart Savers Thermostat Program Infoline at 1-866-547-2334 or PSEG Long Island’s Energy Efficiency Infoline at 1-800-692-2626. For more information on the program, visit https://www.psegliny.com/page.cfm/Efficiency/CoolingHeating.

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