I know what we have on during our waking hours and what we have on at night so that we can sleep. I have to say that we're definitely not helping the situation in our household even if i've got the temp set at what some might consider a conservative level.

Tens of thousands of people lost power in pockets from Montclair, N.J., to Astoria, Queens to Stamford in Connecticut, but all told, the region’s power grid held up relatively well. ... Officials appealed for more conservation by individuals, warning that soaring residential demand poses a new kind of threat to the grid. Demand used to drop sharply after business hours, but now can stay high around the clock, especially on hot, sticky nights as more people rely on air conditioning and keep their power-hungry computers and entertainment systems operating. In some residential areas the peak period for demand was between 8 and 9 p.m.

Link

It's a vicious cycle, though. It's too hot to not put the A/C on, but using it generates heat that just adds to the overall problem. Which makes us more likely to use the A/C, draining more from the grid. Sure, in relative terms, it might not be a huge amount of heat input, but it's certainly not helping. Especially when you total the input of every household in the area. Ugh.

Time to get the @#^#$!! out of NJ and into a solar powered home in the mountains.