As demand for electricity soared along with temperatures on Monday (7/19), PP&L, Inc. set a record for summer electricity delivery.

Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., PP&L, Inc. delivered an estimated 6,348,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to its 1.3 million customers in Pennsylvania. It's the third summer delivery record set by PP&L, Inc. in the last month, eclipsing the old record of 6,273,000 kilowatt-hours set July 6.

A kilowatt-hour is the amount of electricity needed to power ten 100-watt light bulbs for one hour.

At the request of the regional PJM Interconnection power pool, PP&L, Inc. asked a group of about 80 large industrial customers to reduce electricity use this afternoon.

Those customers have special contracts with PP&L, Inc. that enable them to buy power at a lower price in exchange for agreeing to reduce their electricity use temporarily when needed.

PJM coordinates electricity distribution for more than 22 million people in five mid-Atlantic states - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia - and the District of Columbia.

The power pool did not expect to set a summer demand record today.

PJM also called for electric companies in some part of the region to reduce the voltage on their distribution systems by 5 percent for a brief time this afternoon. The only part of PP&L, Inc.'s electric delivery service area affected by the PJM order was the Lehigh Valley. Other areas served by PP&L, Inc. did not experience a voltage reduction.

Voltage is the amount of pressure sending electrical current through a wire. Reducing voltage is like reducing the pressure of water flowing through a garden hose. A 5 percent voltage reduction does not damage electrical equipment.

"With the start of the workweek and the continuing hot weather, we saw a rapid increase in customer demand today that continued through the afternoon," explained William H. Whitehead, PP&L, Inc.'s manager of Transmission and Distribution Operations.