Utility crews worked throughout the night Monday to bring power back to areas hit by blackouts, with thousands of customers throughout Southern California still without power today.
Monday’s record-setting heat, which the Southland had been bracing for after blistering temperatures over the weekend, overtaxed the grid causing blackouts in some cities beginning in the afternoon and continuing throughout the evening. Residents and businesses were warned of the potential for blackouts and were asked to raise thermostats to 78 degrees, shut off lights and take other proactive measures to conserve electricity.
LADWP said Monday that energy use rose to 6,080 megawatts, which is well over 50 percent more than what is typically used in the city on a June day.
LADWP spokeswoman Vonda Paige said as of 7:50 a.m. PST today about 8,300 customers, mostly residential, were without power. Crews have been dispatched but there is no time estimate on power restoration.
Paul Netter, a spokesman at Southern California Edison, reported 8,434 users — a combination of commercial and residential — without power. Most of those, he said, are located in Los Angeles County. Edison users without power peaked yesterday at around 23,000 in the afternoon. The city of Downey was most affected by the outages with 15,000 customers without power at one point in the day Monday, according to Netter. Power restoration is happening as quickly as possible but there is no time frame on when that will come back online for customers, according to Netter.
The potential for power outages this summer is high given a natural gas shortage that stems from a leak at the Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility, which is used by Los Angeles area utility companies.