Given record temperatures and record electricity usage, Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) is asking its customers to conserve electricity.

On Monday and Tuesday, PSO customers used all-time record amounts of electricity, and we expect today’s usage to result in yet another all-time record. Electric usage across the Southwest Power Pool region, which includes nine states as well as Oklahoma, also hit an all-time high yesterday. While PSO facilities have been able to keep up with the demand, electric generation is running non-stop at full capacity and supplies are tight.

"While we’ve been able to keep up with customer demand for electricity, we are asking our customers to do whatever they can to help ease the strain on the electric grid until these extreme weather conditions are behind us," said Stuart Solomon, PSO president and chief operating officer. "It’s important to use electricity wisely at all times, but with the pressures that the weather is putting on our system and electrical systems across the region, it’s even more important to conserve," said Solomon.

Here are a few tips for how customers can help conserve electricity:

• Raise the temperature on your thermostat to reduce the amount of time your air conditioner runs

• Turn off all lighting in unused rooms

• Lower and close window blinds and shades to keep out the heat

• Postpone the use of heat-generating appliances such as ovens and clothes dryers until as late in the day as possible

Additional energy-saving suggestions can be found on the PSO website at PSOklahoma.com/save.

PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 530,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. With headquarters in Tulsa, PSO has 4,321 megawatts of generating capacity and provides electricity to 230 cities and towns across a service area encompassing 30,000 square miles.