Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. will interrupt electric service to 66 large industrial customers this afternoon (8/3) in an effort to conserve energy as the hot weather and humidity continue to cause high demand for electricity.

PP&L is asking all customers to use energy wisely, but is not calling for other customers to conserve.

The other 10 electric utilities in the Pennsylvania-Maryland-New Jersey Interconnection, the five-state regional power pool that includes PP&L, also interrupted power to major industrial customers.

"At this time we have an adequate supply of power to meet demand, barring any unexpected loss of major generation," said Barry Trayers, PP&L's manager of Bulk Power Operations. "This interruption of large industrial customers is a conservative measure we're using to balance supply and demand."

The large customers that have had service interrupted have special contracts with PP&L that require them to reduce power and/or curtail operations during an emergency. These customers are called "interruptible" customers.

No service has been interrupted to other customers and PP&L does not expect to take such action, Trayers added.

The last time PP&L interrupted service to large industrial customers was during the power supply emergency in January 1994. The last time such an interruption occurred in the summer was Aug. 27, 1993.

Electricity demand also has been high on the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection.

PP&L customers set a new electricity use record between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday (8/2). They used 6,153,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, according to unofficial numbers, breaking the old peak of 5,873,000 kwh, set on July 27.

PJM coordinates the distribution of power for more than 22 million customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. PP&L supplies power to about 1.2 million customers in Central Eastern Pennsylvania.