Following her wedding inside Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan to Kansas City Chief Travis Kelce on Friday, July 3, singer Taylor Swift has been getting heat (no pun intended) online because some New Yorkers feel they lost power or were left without power in or around her wedding day.

 

While the lavish gathering appears to have gone ahead for the bride and groom without any glitches, and even the nearby Empire State Building lit up in “something blue” as a tribute to the global superstar, as reported, Con Ed, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and The New York Independent Service Operator (ISO) had been asking New Yorkers to conserve energy in recent days amid both needed repairs in the Northwest Bronx, and a decline in operating reserves around the city.

 

Norwood News spoke to Con Ed on Sunday, July 5, and asked if the Swift-Kelce wedding had had any impact on power outages for New Yorkers across the city and a spokesperson confirmed that it “absolutely did not.”

The spokesperson explained that there are 65 independent underground networks linked to the grid that serves New York City’s five boroughs, and each network has its own high voltage “feeders” and “transformers” below ground. The spokesperson explained that across a neighborhood like Norwood and Bedford Park, for example, there are a few networks and if one feeder goes down, there is no customer impact.

 

According to the spokesperson, feeders are turned off sometimes for regularly scheduled work but during a heatwave, none are turned off and the only work being carried out is emergency work. The spokesperson added that 87 percent of the city’s grid network is underground.

The spokesperson went on to explain that Times Square and other areas of the city each have their own networks and Con Ed does not have the ability to divert power from one network in one part of the city to another network in another part of the city. The spokesperson said the grid is not set up that way, adding that when neighbors conserve energy, they are simply helping their immediate neighbors and when everyone participates in conservation, it can make a big difference across the city.

 

According to the spokesperson, when the networks get stressed, Con Ed asks everyone to conserve energy, especially from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and in doing so, as above, they help their immediate neighbors in the same network. Con Ed said conserving energy helps your electric bill, helps the environment, and takes pressure of the grid. The spokesperson said the use of heavy curtains, for example, can block a substantial amount of heat from entering a home through windows.

 

The latest outage maps are attached. The spokesperson went on to say that tips on how to conserve energy and lower bills can be found on Con Ed’s website here.

 

The spokesperson added that multiple trees are down as of Sunday afternoon in Westchester County, and in other affected areas after Saturday night’s heavy rain and crews are working to safely remove them as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the blue illumination by the Empire State Building on Friday was a subtle nod to Swift’s blue-themed “1989” album, which featured the hit single, “Welcome to New York.” It was later used by NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization, as part of a New York City tourism promotional video.

 

Ahead of their nuptials, last week, Swift and Kelce donated $26 million to 20 different charities across the country, including food banks and Dolly Parton’s imagination library. Number 13 is Swift’s lucky number and it’s been reported that the bride and groom seemingly each donated $13 million. Additionally, “Swifties,’ the singer’s fanbase, have been donating to various charities like New York Cares throughout the weekend, to spread a little extra joy.

 

Con Ed’s clarification of the power outage situation may not stop the online hate directed at the singer but “haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate.” Presumably, she’s “just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it off, shake it off….”

For more on this topic, click here, here, and here and for tips on how to beat the heat, click here.

 

On Sunday, Con Edison provided an update on their work in recent days following the recent heatwave and storm. They said Con Edison crews have restored power to the more than 166,800 of the roughly 173,700 customers whose service was impacted by recent extreme weather events, from record-breaking heat to severe thunderstorms with destructive wind gusts.

They said crews continue working around the clock to bring the lights back on for customers. They said 99 percent of Westchester customers affected by the Fourth of July storms are expected to be restored by Monday July 6 at 7 p.m., and said the cities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Rye and New Rochelle experienced the greatest number of storm-related outages.

 

As of 11 p.m. on Sunday, they said Con Edison crews were working to restore service:

• In Westchester to approximately 2,600 customers.
• In the Bronx to approximately 250 customers.
• In Queens to approximately 1,000 customers.
• In Brooklyn to more than 2,300 customers.
• In Staten Island to approximately 60 customers.

For the most up-to-date restoration information, they ask customers to check the Con Edison Outage Map. For individual restoration times, they said customers can sign up for text alerts at coned.com/text or check the Con Edison outage map. Watch an outage map tutorial video here.

 

Restoration Plan

They said the priority for restoration will be critical customer facilities that have an impact on the public, such as mass transit, hospitals, police and fire stations, and sewage and water-pumping stations. They said crews will then prioritize repairs that will provide power to the largest numbers of customers as quickly as possible, then move on to restore smaller groups and individual customers.

 

Reporting An Outage

Con Edison officials said customers can sign up for text alerts at coned.com/text, and can also report outages and check service restoration status at conEd.com/reportoutage, or with Con Edison’s mobile app for iOS or Android devices, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When reporting an outage, they said to have your Con Edison account number available, if possible. They said customers who report outages will receive updates from Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available.

 

Safety Tips

• If you see downed electrical wires, do not go near them. Report them to Con Edison and your local police department immediately.
• Treat all downed wires as if they are live. Never attempt to move them or touch them with your hands or any object. Be mindful that downed wires can be hidden from view by tree limbs, leaves or water.
• Members of the public also should avoid transformers that are brought to the ground. The transformers are gray metal drums attached to the wires and poles.
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installing and using a portable generator. Never plug a generator into a wall unit, use it indoors, or set it up outdoors near open home windows or air-handling vents.

• If a power line falls on your car while you’re in it, stay inside the vehicle and wait for emergency personnel.

• If your power goes out, disconnect or turn off appliances that would otherwise turn on automatically when service is restored. If several appliances start up at once, the electric circuits may overload.
• Charge your cellphones and other mobile devices while you have power.

• Check to make sure your flashlights and any battery-operated radios are in working order. Make sure you have a supply of extra batteries.

 

They said Con Edison remains in contact with New York City Emergency Management and Westchester County Emergency Management.