Take precautions, stay safe during extreme heat.
During periods of extreme heat, we urge our customers to stay safe by spending time in a cool place, drinking plenty of fluids, staying informed and checking on elderly family members or neighbors.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers the following advice to help keep you and those around you safe:
- Take measures to avoid heat stress or illness and keep your homes cool. During periods like this, air conditioning is a matter of health and safety, not only convenience and comfort.
- If you don’t have air conditioning, the CDC urges you to seek out cooler places — shopping malls, libraries or public cooling centers — to avoid the heat.
- The CDC also advises people to wear appropriate clothing and drink plenty of cool, non-alcoholic beverages as part of increased fluid intake.
If you’re looking for a place to stay cool during the heat wave, check out available cooling center locations during this week’s heat wave: Cooling Centers Available.
Ways to save energy and money:
- Pull down drapes and shades during the day to block the hot sun.
- You will save energy for every degree higher you can set your thermostat. The federal Department of Energy recommends 78 degrees.
- Minimize the use of heat-generating appliances like dishwashers, stoves, washers and dryers during the warmest hours of the day.
- Incandescent light bulbs also produce heat, so switching to cooler and more efficient LED bulbs is a smart choice.
- Ceiling fans are wonderful to have for air movement, and they are economical to operate. Using a ceiling fan often lets you raise the temperature setting on your thermostat by one to three degrees.
We offer customers many no-cost ways to save energy, as well as payment agreements and assistance programs to make their bills as affordable as possible. Explore your options at pplelectric.com/SeasonalSavings.