ComEd has issued an urgent warning to people on the West Side of Chicago and in some west and southwest suburbs that the power grid is under “critical strain.”<\/p>\n
The electricity utility company sent an alert to customers living and working in Berwyn, Cicero, North Riverside, Stickney, Forest Park, Maywood, Oak Park and the Chicago neighborhoods of Little Village, North Lawndale, Douglas Park, Garfield Park and Austin about the strain the heat wave is placing on the power grid.<\/p>\n
While no power outages were reported, ComEd said demand on the local grid serving those areas has reached a “critical level,” and customers should immediately reduce energy use to prevent power outages. <\/p>\n
At Peterson’s Ice Cream Parlor in Oak Park had a steady flow of customers coming in and out amid the heat wave, especially after they got the message.<\/p>\n
“We received a text and email to do whatever we can to reduce energy being that it is so hot,” said Brittany Barbosa.<\/p>\n
She and her family got the message to conserve energy until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, while crews were working to repair and replace impacted equipment at a local substation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0We went around the house. We closed the windows, blinds, and the shades. We turned the air conditioning up slightly,” she said.<\/p>\n
At a ComEd staging site outside the United Center, crews inside a mobile response unit were on standby, ready to respond at a moment’s notice if the heat pushes the power grid to its limits.<\/p>\n
Consumer advocates say most days we don’t use the ComEd grid to the fullest extent, but it is built to sustain energy during these peak demand times. However, they say rolling blackouts or brownouts are a possibility.<\/p>\n
“I’d be surprised if they need to do that today, but it’s clearly enough that they are sending a signal to the customer base to try and conserve and try to use less energy,” said Abe Scarr, director of Illinois Public Interest Research Group.<\/p>\n
He says ComEd needs to find parts of the grid they need to invest more in.<\/p>\n
To reduce electricity usage, ComEd is asking customers in the impacted areas to:<\/p>\n
ComEd said it has crews out working around the clock to repair impacted equipment, address power outages, and protect service in affected areas. It’s also activated its voluntary load reduction program and is asking large commercial and industrial customers to cut their electricity use.<\/p>\n
An Extreme Heat Warning persists through Thursday night for all counties in the Chicago area and the city of Chicago itself. High temperatures Wednesday were in the 90s, with the humidity pushing the heat index into feeling like 100 to 110 degrees during the afternoon. <\/p>\n
Night won’t bring much relief, as temperatures will only drop into the upper 70s and feel like the low 80s.<\/p>\n
The extreme heat continues Thursday, with highs in the mid-90s and feels-like temperatures of 105-110, with the additional threat of strong storms by evening that could also impact the area’s power grid. <\/p>\n
Find cooling centers in Chicago and Cook County<\/strong><\/p>\n DFSS operates six community service cooling areas during heat at 90 degrees and above, which are open Monday – Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.:<\/p>\n Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications also maintains a\u00a0map of all cooling centers and public facilities in the city<\/a>\u00a0that can be used during a heat wave if you don’t have reliable air conditioning. The map is interactive and lists all facilities, their locations and their hours.<\/p>\n Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library, City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Police District locations are also available to the public to cool down during the heat wave, during their hours of operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n