Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. is prepared to meet what the company expects will be a record-setting winter for customer use of electricity.

"We have seen customer use grow during the last several winters and anticipate that this year will be the same," said John Sipics, general manager of PP&L's Power System Support department. "We have the power to meet the increased demand and, barring any unexpected events, such as a major loss of generation, we will supply our customers this winter without any problems."

Sipics presented "winter power outlook" information Thursday (12/14) to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission for both PP&L and the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland regional power pool, of which PP&L is one of 11 members.

Although its not officially winter, customer use already has been high. PP&L customers came close to setting a new record for electricity use Monday (12/11) as temperatures and wind chill factors dipped into single digits throughout the company's service territory.

PP&L customers used 6,430,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday, according to preliminary calculations. PP&L's all-time customer electricity use record is 6,508,000 kwh, set Feb. 6, 1995.

The company estimates that electricity use will reach 6,725,000 kilowatts sometime this winter.

"We learned many lessons in 1994 about the affects of prolonged and severe winter weather and made many changes to better prepare ourselves," Sipics said. "The improvements we implemented last year were very beneficial. Electricity demand was much higher last February than in January 1994 when short power interruptions were necessary, but customers were not affected because the generation was there."

Some of the actions taken to prepare for severe cold weather conditions are:

-- Installing additional freeze protection at power plants, including wrapping and insulating above-ground pipes and checking and replacing heater lines.

-- Conducting a "fall review" at all facilities, which includes inspecting, testing and upgrading all freeze protection equipment to prepare for winter.

-- Restacking coal piles to prevent entire coal piles from freezing.

-- Cutting back on scheduled maintenance outages for power plants if other plants on the regional power pool are unexpectedly forced out of service.

-- Having sufficient fuel inventory to meet unexpected winter conditions.

-- Increasing participation in "cold weather drills" prior to the winter season to establish procedures for maintaining reliable service during extreme weather conditions.

"We recognize that emergencies can always happen," Sipics said, "but we are committed to doing everything possible to maintain continued and reliable electricity service, especially in times of severe and bitter weather."

The regional power pool, which covers parts of five states in the Mid-Atlantic United States, is expecting customer use across its system to be just below record levels for the winter. The power pool's current winter use record is 41,351,000 kwh, set Jan. 18, 1994. The pool, however, has its highest use in the summer. Its all-time customer use record is 48,524,000 kwh, set Aug. 2, 1995.

PP&L is the only company in the power pool that has its highest demand for electricity during the winter. PP&L serves 1.2 million customers in 29 counties in the central and eastern sections of Pennsylvania.

The PJM power pool is the largest in the United States and serves 21 million customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C.