By:Angela Marshall
All over Long Island, temperatures flirted with the century mark last week causing many people to stay inside with air conditioners blasting, wondering when the power would give out. In Rockville Centre it never did.
Village Administrator Anthony Cancellieri credits the efforts of his Crisis Management Team, made up of representatives from the water, electric, finance and public relation departments as well as himself, Mayor Eugene Murray and other support staff.
"This was the largest single test we've ever had of our system," Cancellieri said Monday morning. "It worked. It really worked."
But if you had asked him last week, the administrator might have admitted to being a little concerned. He said as they watched the weather report shape up and saw the prediction for temperatures of 90 degrees or more from Monday through Friday, they knew they were in for a battle. "It was our worst nightmare."
Usually they can count on some portion of a heat wave to fall on a weekend when demand is lower. But this time it was going to hit them head on.
The crisis team met and formulated a plan. Because of the high energy needed to produce water, they switched the pumps to a night schedule, freeing up power during the heart of the day.
The mayor created an emergency address, which was broadcast on the village channel, requesting residents to conserve.
Calls were also made to the 20 largest businesses and institutions asking for their assistance. The village requested all non-work area lighting be turned off and thermostats be set at 78 degrees, just as they were in the village buildings.
And finally, after all the requests were made, it was time to see if the plan had worked. When temperatures reached 95.8 degrees on Tuesday, Rockville Centre's Electric Department usage registered 48.8 megawatts, just 1.7 less than the village's peak of 50.5 in July 1999. And the temperatures were only expected to get hotter.
By Wednesday, as the administrator watched other utilities' loads increase with the heat, Rockville Centre's went down. Although the temperature rose to 97.2 on Wednesday and 98.8 on Thursday, RVC's megawatt usage did not. When temps cooled to 94 degrees on Friday, RVC was only using 46 megawatts.
The village has 59 megawatts available but tries not to use its oldest engines.
"We were able to get through the entire week without incident," Cancellieri said praising his team. "We're very proud of our utility."
