Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers set a record for electricity use Monday morning (2/5) and the utility expects high demand for power to continue for the next few days.

"We were able to meet the record demand for electricity, and barring any unforeseen loss of major generation, we fully expect to have enough electricity available to continue to meet high customer demand," said Mark Heimbach, supervisor of PP&L's power control center.

According to preliminary figures, PP&L's customers used 6,588,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. The previous record for electricity use was 6,508,000 kwh, set Feb. 6, 1995.

The combination of low temperatures and high winds caused wind-chill-adjusted temperatures to plunge well below zero throughout much of PP&L's service territory. The cold trend is expected to continue through Wednesday (2/7).

"Bitter cold temperatures always correlate to high electricity demand," Heimbach said. "During the last few winters, we have gained valuable experience operating in extreme cold and are better prepared to produce electricity in these kinds of temperatures.

"We fully expect to get through this cold period without having to use emergency procedures that would affect customers."

PP&L expects near-record usage to continue during peak periods of the day until Wednesday, Heimbach said.

PP&L serves 1.2 million customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania.