MANHATTAN – Less than 24 hours after a manhole fire plunged part of the Upper East Side into darkness, ConEd is reducing the voltage to the UES and asking everyone who lives here to cut back on electric use so they can work on the grid.
Just after 9pm Tuesday, New York City’s Office of Emergency put out the alert— telling residents of the Upper East Side, Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill and East Harlem to limit their use of washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and any unnecessary light use.
.@ConEdison is reducing voltage in the Upper East Side, Yorkville, East Harlem and Carnegie Hill neighborhoods in Manhattan. Limit use of appliances. Report outages to https://t.co/12zVPHpRjS or 800-75-CONED (26633). Multilingual & ASL link: https://t.co/EDp1gMOb9U.
— NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) June 30, 2021
The request comes because ConEdison crews are making repairs to its electrical system– but it’s not clear if these repairs are related to Monday night’s hours-long power outage affecting nine buildings in Lenox Hill.
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‘It sucked,” Rebekah Stovall told Upper East Site. Rebekah was one of more than 300 customers who lost power and air conditioning in their building last night after a manhole fire erupted at the corner of East 77th Street and Second Ave.

That outage came on a sweltering night in the city– one of the hottest of the year. Then, it happened again.
“The power went out again today for a few hours,” Rebekah told us, but she “hope[s] that’s all done with now!”
As of 10:45 pm, ConEd is reporting no power outages on the Upper East Side or anywhere in Manhattan for that matter. However, in this dangerous heat, things could change in an instant.
If you lose power, you can report the outage on ConEd’s website or call 800-75-CONED (26633). If you have a speech or hearing disability, please call 800-642-2308.
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