Officials Wary of Outage Ask for Energy Usage Reduction After Noon

With temperatures expected to push into the low 90s today, Southern California Edison officials concerned about overtaxing the system have recommended that from noon to 6 p.m., customers cut back use of large appliances such as washers, dryers and--perhaps most onerous--large fans and air conditioners.

The utility’s customers, including 1.2 million in the county, are asked “to conserve a little bit” during peak hours through the weekend because of high demand that may sap a reduced power supply brought on by the recovery from last Saturday’s blackout, said Steve Hansen, an Edison spokesman.

Edison, the largest of three power utilities in the county, recommended that customers turn up air-conditioning thermostats and not run appliances that consume heavy amounts of electricity such as washers, dryers and microwave ovens.

San Diego Gas & Electric, which serves 100,000 customers in South County, and Anaheim’s city utility have not asked their customers to do the same.

Edison is fearful that another heavy surge of power use at peak hours may cause an outage as it did last Saturday, shutting off power to nearly 5 million California residents at 3:45 p.m.

This week, Edison customers again put heavy demands on the utility both Wednesday and Thursday, Hansen said.

Typically, the company would be running at 14,000 megawatts for a hot August day. By comparison, the peak demand for Thursday was 17,425 megawatts, he said.

A megawatt is equal to 1,000 kilowatts (1 million watts), enough energy to power 1,000 average homes. The high demand Wednesday, when the temperature reached 92 degrees in Santa Ana, came close to the utility’s all-time record consumption, 18,413 megawatts, which occurred in August 1992, he said.

But the hot weather may ease soon. By the weekend, low clouds should push inland and produce cooler weather along the coast, with temperatures in the upper 60s and 80s inland, said Curtis Brack, a meteorologist for WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

Brack said that humidity was unusually high Thursday because of a Gulf of Mexico storm system that produced thunderstorms and showers in Arizona and California’s deserts.

Santa Ana reported a high of 91 degrees. By late afternoon, humidity jumped to 71% after having remained at about 41% much of the day. The humidity, too, should decrease with the clouds and fog.