Local hospitals were the first businesses to get phone calls from Pennsylvania Power Co. Friday morning, warning of a potential rolling blackout.

Sharon Regional Health System did its part to try to avoid a rolling blackout.

At 11 a.m. the hospital went on a "brownout," said Sam Kudelko, director of support services. A "brownout" amounts to turning off all non-essential things like lighting in conference rooms and offices.

At 11:30, the hospital voluntarily went to its five backup generators. "We're doing our part to decrease the load of electrical consumption here in the area," Kudelko said.

Kudelko said he expected the hospital to continue to use the emergency generators into the evening hours.

UPMC Horizon hospitals in Farrell and Greenville and United Community Hospital, Pine Township, also have backup generators in case of power failure.

"We're capable of sustaining all essential services even if we do lose power," said Erin Palko, spokesperson for UPMC Horizon. "Each department has its own utility-failure plan."

Kathy Lehman, spokeswoman for UCH, said the hospital is able to run for 24 days on the generator without having to refuel. Rolling blackouts would not affect patient care in any way, she said.

Penn Power asked industrial customers to curtail their usage.

"We've taken all the normal steps to cut our usage,'' said Bill Perrine, president of Sharon Tube Co. "We've suspended a production line for a day and cut off all our air conditioners and shut off lights wherever we could.''

A major production line wasn't running Friday at the Sharon plant due to a downturn for pipe and tube orders, Perrine sad.

Magnotto's Hermitage Shop 'N Save had half a tractor-trailer load of dry ice delivered Friday just in case of an electrical outage.

"We won't miss a beat,'' declared store owner Michael Magnotto.

Werner Co.'s Sugar Grove Township operation turned off unnecessary lights and air pressure for equipment, while the JCPenney store at the Shenango Valley Mall in Hermitage was prepared for a blackout with its emergency plan.

A transformer feeding the store and Sears at the mall has malfunctioned leaving both retailers without power on four separate occasions since February, said Gary Hodgkins, JCPenney store manager.

"We've had quite a bit of experience since February with blackouts,'' Hodgkins lamented. "We have an emergency manual to follow as to who watches doors and what everyone has to do.''

U.S. Rep. Phil English, R-3rd District, Erie, who was at the Greenville Senior Center Friday for a town meeting, said Thursday's outage and the related fallout must stir Congress to pass a comprehensive energy law.

"It's going to have a significant impact on the economy of the East Coast and of our region because a power outage like this is going to have a ripple effect through the economy," English said. "And we can't afford to have this kind of problem."

Other business owners grumbled that Penn Power should be able to prevent rolling blackouts.

"If they know it's going to happen, they've got to be able to prevent it," said Dan Dennis, owner of Geek's Cafe cyber business on South Broad Street in Grove City.

"If the power just goes out, we just won't be able to operate. It's just an inconvenience. But if the power spikes, it could damage my computer systems," he said, pointing to the six PCs that his customers use. "If they spike my computers, their insurance should be paying for it. If they can't prevent it, they should be able to ease it. As for my refrigeration units, I have backup generators."

Mark Weeter, president of Trinity Digital Solutions and Weeter's Photography of Grove City, said his business was prepared. "We're having our people save every 10 minutes, so we're set. My other studio in Knox went out at 4 p.m. (Friday) so we had to reschedule four seniors' pictures," Weeter said, adding that with the use of digital photography, "we're well protected with surge protectors."

It was icy cold in Costello's Chocolates on South Broad Street. Employees were keeping the store colder than usual to protect the chocolates in case the electricity went out. "If it got too hot, it would melt. There's not too much we can do," said Paula Louise, who joked about giving it away if the electricity went out. "If you're going to lose it, you might as well give it all away."

Dennis said hearing that Franklin and the Meadville area were affected by Friday afternoon's blackout caught him off guard. "That's close. That's wild."