Students and businesses may not have been able to thwart the cold, but they were able to conquer threats of a countywide blackout yesterday.

Because of overwhelming community cooperation and conservation during a statewide emergency situation, West Penn Power Co. has been able to provide power for all Centre County residents.

State College should be back to normal and in no danger of any power shortages by midmorning today if residents continue their current conservation methods, said J.P. Tambourine, area supervisor of customer services and accounting at West Penn Power Co.

"When this happened, I think everybody pitched in," he said. "It really, truly saved us."

Tambourine said customers, students, businesses and industries came together and were able to use 200 megawatts less than they had used at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the power company's most critical supply period during the crisis.

That was enough to keep electrical service in the area uninterrupted despite earlier threats of rolling blackouts throughout the region, he said.

But Tambourine said officials will continue to monitor the power situation minute by minute.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said.

Most of the University-wide conservation has been voluntary. Fred Fotis, director of housing and laundry services, said dorms will continue to have hot water and normal heating, but electrical power will be kept to a minimum.

"We're waiting for the green light to resume full operation," he said.

Dorm elevators were turned off yesterday for safety purposes in case of a blackout.

"We realize this may have caused an inconvenience, but it was necessary," said Jim Wagner, vice president for business and operations. The Office of Physical Plant resumed elevator service yesterday, he said.

The main problem for the University has been the increased number of water line breaks because of the unusual weather, Wagner said.

Water line breakage has caused major problems at Henning, Wartik and Rider buildings, Wagner said.

"There's an extraordinary amount of cost involved," he said, adding that the first snowfall alone cost them $30,000 in overtime for employees and cleanup.

Students also pitched in to help conserve power.

"I pretty much kept as many lights off as possible and just used my small desk lamp," said Michelle Barger (senior-food science).

Dana Abels (junior-management) said she turned down her lights and studied by her dorm window to help save electricity yesterday.

A.W. & Sons general manager Leo DeLorenzo said his company's apartment buildings closed all 22 of their laundry rooms Wednesday to help save energy. All elevators and the computer lab also were closed.

DeLorenzo said the buildings returned to normal operations by early yesterday afternoon, adding that its emergency procedures did not cause any problems.

"I think everybody understood," he said. "There were a few people that grumbled."

Ye Old College Diner, 126 W. College Ave., helped save power during the energy emergency but did not close its doors.

"We just don't close," cashier Jill Lalumere said, adding that the restaurant did turn down as many lights as possible.

State College Borough offices remained open yesterday but used reduced lighting, said borough manager Peter Marshall. All nonessential offices closed at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

All nonessential state and federal offices were closed yesterday. Services such as hospitals and emergency operations did not shut down.

But some unnecessary electrical usage during the state of emergency was unavoidable. Downtown State College Inc. attempted to unplug the borough's downtown Christmas lights Wednesday night but was unsuccessful.

The lights turned on automatically because they are connected to the borough's street lamps, said Downtown State College Inc. executive director Bob Price.

"The voltage of those lights is so small it probably would not have made a difference anyhow," Price said, adding that an electrician couldn't be located to disassemble them Wednesday.