Yesterday’s Electricity Demand was Highest of 2017, New High Expected Today as Extreme Temperatures Persist
LOS ANGELES (August 30, 2017) – With both day and nighttime temperatures remaining near record-highs, LADWP encourages customers to continue taking steps to reduce electricity use between 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Yesterday, customer electricity use peaked at 6,048 MW – setting a new high for 2017, and exceeding the previous high of 5,687 set on July 7th. LADWP grid operators forecast a new high of 6,226 MW today, which would be another new high for the year, just shy of the all-time record of 6,396 MW set in September 2014.
As of 11:00 a.m. today, there are 1,930 customers out of 1.4 million without power. Crews have been working around the clock to restore small, localized outages. During higher temperatures, electrical equipment can become overheated –as customers typically operate air conditioners all at once, increasing the strain on neighborhood power distribution equipment. Outages in the LADWP service territory peaked at approximately 15,000 customers Tuesday, with the areas of Northridge and Boyle Heights most impacted.
Due to extreme heat and customer demand, high voltage equipment at two of LADWP’s 125 in-basin distributing stations experienced overloading conditions that resulted in outages. Distributing stations servicing portions of Northridge and Boyle Heights became overloaded at approximately 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, leading to outages affecting approximately 5,000 customers in Boyle Heights and 10,000 customers in Northridge. The Boyle Heights outage was fully restored in approximately two hours and the Northridge outage was fully restored at 3:22 a.m. today. In both cases, crews were able to either reroute power to reduce station overloading, or switch electric circuits to other equipment once demand for electricity went down in the middle of the night. Repairs to equipment in Northridge are ongoing this morning, with crews attempting to make repairs before power demand spikes as temperatures rise.
LADWP crews will continue working around the clock throughout the heat storm to restore customers who lose power as quickly and safely as possible. In order to decrease strain on the electric grid, we urge customers to do what they can to help conserve energy.
Some energy-saving measures that customers can take include keeping their thermostats set at 78 degrees; keeping curtains, blinds and drapes closed to keep sunlight out and keep home interiors cool; avoiding the use of major appliances at peak usage hours during the day; and opening doors and windows at night to allow cool air to circulate.
To report any loss of power, call 1-800-DIAL-DWP. To monitor outage status, see www.ladwp.com or follow @LADWP on Twitter.
# # #
