Residents warned to conserve power as outages persist throughout region

Southern California residents were warned Tuesday to conserve power as officials struggled to respond to several outages following record high temperatures and record demand.

At noon Tuesday, about 23,000 Southern California Edison customers were experiencing heat-related outages in Whittier, Carson, Long Beach, San Pedro and Tustin.

The Department of Water and Power was also experiencing record demand and officials planned an afternoon press conference to urge residents to conserve energy.

“With the hottest weather of the day still to come, LADWP urges all customers conserve electricity wherever it is possible and safe to do so,” said spokesman Brooks Baker in a news release.

He urged residents to run appliances in the evening hours, set air conditioner thermostats to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and turn off all unnecessary lighting and equipment. 

--Paloma Esquivel

Photo: Jessica Ramirez, right, pulls friend Haydee Escalante into the fountain at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles, where the temperature reached 113 - downtown's highest since records began being kept in 1877. The previous high was 112, set in 1990. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Photos: Hottest day in L.A. ever - since 1877, anyway

Comments

[Brrr]

And yet my downtown LA office building has the AC cranked to high heaven ... I've been freezing all day. Makes me crazy.

[Leilani in AZ]

we (in AZ) have had these temps since May.... makes me wonder why the power surge there and not here for 4 solid months of running every a/c unit in the greater Phoenix area. i know you guys aren't used to it, but still. L.A. is the biggest metropolis on our side of the country and can't regulate power efficiently? i'm feeling your pain, i couldn't stand an hour here w/o the a/c.

[CC]

Those ladies in the picture look like they are having fun! I should have pushed my sister in the water fountain we were sitting at yesterday! LOL... It is indeed hot and I agree with Leilani in Arizona. One of my cousins stays out in Pheonix and she expressed the same thing.... is CA THAT deteriorated? Wow...

[Gary Kennedy]

WE KNOW THAT IF SOLAR PANELS WERE INSTALLED ON LARGE BUILDINGS THAT AT LEAST 30% OF THE POWER NEEDED WOULD BE AVAILABLE.