With temperatures reaching the 90s in Rockland County this week, Orange and Rockland Utilities is prepared for this weekend’s heat wave and the hot summer ahead.

The National Weather Service predicts that temperatures could hit as high as 91 degrees Thursday afternoon. Temperatures will stay in the low 90s on Friday and Saturday, while a chance of thunderstorms is expected to cool things down on Sunday.

O&R experts said they beat last summer’s scorching temperatures by taking pro-active measures such as tree trim, construction, close monitoring of the electrical system on the hottest days, and fast action to heat-related electrical problems before the issues became a serious concern.

As preparation for this summer’s power demands, O&R has spent more than $100 million to strengthen, upgrade and maintain its system, on top of the more than $640 million spent over the last 10 years to maintain and rehabilitate O&R’s system.

Circuit distribution improvement projects were recently completed at 13 sites—New City, Pearl River, Suffern, Stony, Point and Sloatsburg among them.

The largest of these projects was the replacement of six underground circuit exits in New City at the New Hempstead substation that aimed to improve service for 11,000 customers. This project also included work in conjunction with the New Hempstead road-widening project.

The recent completion of the $17 million Clarkstown Snake Hill Road substation in West Nyack—which serves more than 7,750 customers and pays $574,340 annually in county, town and school taxes—expands service, improves service reliability and boosts economic development opportunities, O&R says.

Other projects include the $7.6 million spent on expanding the South Mahwah substation to improve service reliability for the station’s 7,000 customers in Mahwah, Ramsey, Airmont, Suffern and Ramapo.

The Harriman station was also upgraded at $904,000. This project aimed to strengthen service reliability to 11,000 customers from Harriman, Highland Falls, Dean and West Point substations.

O&R has also performed maintenance on substations and transmission and distribution equipment, tree trimming, testing and inspections to prepare for the high demands for electricity this summer.

The energy distribution company said that customers could help keep electricity consumption from reaching record-breaking numbers by conserving and using energy efficiently.

For tips on how you can save energy and opt into O&R’s energy efficient programs visit www.oru.com.

(YWN Monsey Newsroom)