(Photo by Ben A Cobb Photo)

There is a heat advisory through Friday, June 22, 7pm in NYC. Heat index values are up to 104 degrees today and 95 degrees on Friday. Con Edison urges all customers to use electricity wisely as crews work around the clock to keep the power flowing to 9 million New Yorkers.

Some steps to stay cool include:

• Making sure air conditioner filters are clean for peak efficiency;
• Setting thermostats no lower than 78 degrees. Each degree lower increases cooling costs by 6 percent;
• Closing off the rooms not being used if you have a room air conditioner; if you have central air, block the vents in unused or vacant rooms;
• Turning off lights and other appliances, using a timer to turn them on as necessary;
• Running appliances such as ovens, washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers in the early morning or late at night when it’s generally cooler. Another alternative: using a microwave to cook, or a barbecue outside, if possible.
• Accepting Con Edison’s offer of a free programmable thermostat if you have central air conditioning. Program the thermostat manually or from the Internet. Turning off your air conditioner when you’re not there beats leaving it on all the time, and programming it instead to turn on before you return is a wise way to save on summer electric bills. To learn more about Con Edison’s free programmable thermostat, call 1-866-521-8600 or visit www.conEd.com/cool.

The company has reduced voltage by 5 percent in some neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn due to problems on electrical equipment and done as a precaution to protect equipment and maintain service as crews work to repair the problems. Con Edison has asked customers in these areas not to use appliances such as washers, dryers, air conditioners and other energy-intensive equipment, and to turn off lights and televisions when not needed until the equipment problems are resolved.

Customers can report power interruptions or service problems, view service restoration information and the outage map online at www.conEd.com or call 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-663) promptly if they are experiencing any service difficulties. When reporting an outage, customers should have their Con Edison account number available, if possible, and report whether their neighbors also have lost power. Customers who report outages will be called by Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available.

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