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Winter in Ohio began this year with a warning from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, that the eastern U.S. was at risk of blackouts on the coldest days, due to high demand for electricity and low supply.

NERC issued a second, longer-term warning, stating the risk to reliability will increase over the next 10 years. NERC is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the electric grid.

Thankfully, Ohio experienced no rolling outages from power supply shortages during a January cold stretch. Ohio’s electric cooperatives recommended easy at-home energy conservation measures to its members, which helped reduce electricity demand. 

Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives represents 25 not-for-profit electric cooperatives which serve 77 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Cooperatives recommend energy conservation on the hottest and coldest days of the year to help lower demand, and they send members peak alerts—messages letting them know electricity usage is high and expected to peak.

How Ohioans can help increase the reliability of electricity at home

• Do laundry late evening.
• Run a full dishwasher at bedtime.
• Adjust thermostat when not home.
• Unplug appliances not in use.
• Clean or replace dirty filters—HVAC, dryer, refrigerator.
• Shower in 10 minutes or less.
• Seal window, door gaps.
• Insulate your home.
• Turn off lights in unused rooms.
• Only use LED light bulbs.

These simple energy conservation steps will not only make electricity more reliable on the coldest—or hottest—days of the year, they will also help you save on your electric bill.

About Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives

A not-for-profit statewide organization, who along with Buckeye Power, a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative, serves 25 member-owned electric cooperatives, who distribute electricity to 380,000 homes and businesses in 77 of Ohio’s 88 counties.