Thousands without power in region as grid operator requests less use of electricity (UPDATE) (2024)

SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: Power outages persist in Lehigh Valley, northwest New Jersey

EVENING UPDATE: Met-Ed’s outage page says the number of the utility’s customers without power in Northampton County increased by 27 from noon to 6:30 p.m.

With the sun down on the frigid day, the hardest hit Met-Ed areas in the county were Upper Mount Bethel Township (325 customers), Palmer Township (268 customers) and Easton (105 customers).

PPL Electric Utilities also had 275 customers in the dark in the county, led by 153 in Lower Saucon Township. PPL had 565 customers without power in Lehigh County, with 257 of them in Upper Saucon Township, the Allentown-based corporation’s outage site said.

Warren County had 368 JCP&L customers without power at that hour, headed by 104 in Liberty Township, FirstEnergy’s outage site said. Hunterdon County had 988 JCP&L customers without powered by Kingwood Township (142 customers, Readington Township (136 customers) and Delaware Township (104 customers).

MIDDAY UPDATE: Power companies had made headway Saturday afternoon into the number of customers without electricity in the Lehigh Valley and Northwest New Jersey.

Nearly 1,700 homes and businesses had been restored to power by just after 12 p.m., from the 6,705 that were out at 9:30 a.m., outage site figures show.

There were 946 Met-Ed customers without power in Northampton County — led by 329 in Upper Mount Bethel Township, 191 in Palmer Township and 110 in Moore Township — and 39 Met-Ed customers still out in Lehigh County, outage figures show.

PPL had 761 customers out in Lehigh County, led by 268 in Upper Saucon Township, outage figures show. Of the 387 PPL customers out in Northampton County, 150 of them were in Lower Saucon Township, figures show.

Mansfield Township with 244 still out led Warren County’s 958 JCP&L customers without power. In Hunterdon County, JCP&L had 1,919 customers out, headed by Bethlehem Township (279), Readington Township (254) and Tewksbury Township (237).

INITIAL REPORTING: More than 6,700 power company customers in Lehigh, Northampton, Warren and Hunterdon counties have no choice but to follow PJM Interconnection’s request to use less electricity for certain hours Saturday into Sunday.

Because of the storm, they had no power as of 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

PJM, which operates the electricity grid for 65 million people in 13 states — including Pennsylvania and New Jersey — and the District of Columbia, was motivated to issue the request because of the frigid weather, according to a news release.

“PJM is asking consumers to reduce their use of electricity, if health permits, between the hours of 4 a.m. on December 24, 2022, and 10 a.m. on December 25, 2022,” the release stated.

Early Saturday, temperatures dropped to 3 degrees, with the wind chill well below zero. That put a strain on the grid. And it doesn’t get much better overnight Saturday into Sunday, with a low of 9 and a chill factor of -5, the National Weather Service forecasts.

Here’s what PJM suggests:

• Setting thermostats lower than usual, if health permits
• Postponing use of major electric appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and clothes dryers until other times
• And turning off non-essential electric lights, equipment and appliances

“Conserving as much power as possible” during the stated hours “will help ensure adequate power supplies,” the news release said.

“PJM continues to carefully monitor the power supply conditions,” the grid operator said. “It will do everything possible to keep power flowing in the region.

“If necessary, PJM may take additional steps, such as reducing voltage.

“PJM is coordinating efforts among generators, power suppliers and local utilities. PJM is communicating about the situation with state government officials throughout the region.”

But as for those left without power because an arctic cold front blew through the region Friday, reduced voltage won’t matter at the moment.

Met-Ed had 1,230 customers without power as of Saturday morning, led by Upper Mount Bethel Township at 328 and followed by Palmer Township (206), Moore Township (172) and Bath (113), according to the Ohio-based utility’s outage site.

Restoration times are set for 11 p.m. Monday, according to the site.

Met-Ed also has 39 customers out in Lehigh County.

PPL Electric Utilities had 1,257 customers without power in Lehigh County, led by Upper Saucon Township at 430 and Allentown at 248. In Northampton County, 608 customers were without power, headed by Lower Saucon Township at 158 and Williams Township at 137.

JCP&L had 1,210 customers without power in Warren County, led by 296 in Mansfield Township, 177 in Hope Township, 148 in Liberty Township and 142 in White Township, its outage site said.

In Hunterdon County, JCP&L had 2,361 customers without power, headed by Readington Township at 367, Bethlehem Township at 272, Tewksbuiry Township at 243 and Raritan Township at 220, the outage site says.

As for restoration times on the east side of the Delaware River, JCP&L offered: “Severe weather is causing power outages. Estimated restoration time will be provided when available.”

PPL set up warming centers throughout its converge area, a news release said. They are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and offer heat, device charging areas, hot coffee and water to any customer who loses power, the news release said.

They will open Sunday if needed, PPL said.

The three nearby warming stations are:

The Four Points by Sheraton

3712 Hamilton Blvd, Allentown

610-437-9100

Surestay by Best Western

300 Gateway Drive, Bethlehem

610-866-5800

Comfort Inn & Suites

3189 PA-940, Mount Pocono

570-972-2130

“Please stay safe and take advantage of these warming centers if needed,” the utility said.

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Tony Rhodin can be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com.