SDG&E sees record power demand amid ongoing heat wave
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The heat wave scorching Southern California will continue through Monday night and the power grid has been working hard to keep up.
The demand from the high temperatures all weekend hit its peak Sunday evening and caused an energy demand not seen in the region since 2014, San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) said on Monday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reports the record-breaking high temperatures will continue through Monday night for all areas of San Diego County. But the good news is some reprieve from the heat is coming later this week.
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San Diego’s valley areas, including Santee, El Cajon, Escondido, La Mesa, Poway and San Marcos, are under an excessive heat warning until 8 p.m. Monday with temperatures expected in the 100s to 110s.
While San Diego’s coastal areas are under heat advisories through 8 p.m. Monday — San Diego, Oceanside, Vista, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Encinitas and National City. NWS says high temperatures are expected in the uppers 80s and low 90s near the coast, and 90s to 100 degrees just a few miles inland.
As San Diego’s power grid works to keep up with the demand from the record-breaking temperatures, tens of thousands of people across the county were without power Sunday and into Monday.
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SDG&E has confirmed the demand during the record-breaking heat wave contributed to the mass amounts of power outages on Sunday.
The energy demand peaked at 6:45 p.m. Sunday at 5,032 megawatts, which broke the record of 4,890 megawatts used on Sept. 16, 2014, according to SDG&E.
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As of 5 p.m. Sunday, the SDG&E outage map reported about 6,000 households were without power. As of 10 p.m., over 9,000 households were without power as SDG&E crews continue to work to get that power back on. The communities of Old Town/ Mission Hills/ Hillcrest, and Paradise Hills/ Skyline/ Bay Terraces had the most outages reported at that time, with over 1,000 outages in each area.
At one point Sunday, more than 10,000 people were without power in the Jamacha area, according to SDG&E.
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In total, around 13,000 were without power across San Diego County at its peak.
By Monday at 6 a.m., only a handful of outages remained. The most widespread outage reported by SDG&E was about 852 customers in the area of Valley Center, Rincon and Pauma Valley. According to the utility’s outage map, crews are still assessing the cause of the disruption.
As of Monday afternoon, there were still nearly 1,000 without power across the county.
Meanwhile, many areas across Southern California have been experiencing severe weather amid the high temperatures. Parts of the county this weekend saw thunderstorms with high winds, heavy rain and hail.
On Monday, the heat will once again accompany severe weather with a chance of storms in San Diego’s mountain areas.
If your power goes out during an extreme heat event, there are several steps you can take to stay cool.
According to the CDC, residents can dress in lightweight clothing, use battery-powered fans to cool your home, stay hydrated, reduce activity, take cool showers, keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to preserve food, close blinds and curtains to help keep out the sun, along with finding alternative ways to prepare food like grilling outside.
Visit sdge.com/summer for more information on reducing energy and saving money.
Those in San Diego County impacted by the power outages can find more information, check the status of an outage and report an outage with SDG&E’s outage map.
San Diego County also has free, air-conditioned cooling centers located around the county that residents can use. The Cool Zones locations have also extended operating hours due to the excessive heat.
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