Flex Alert extended: Californians asked to conserve energy from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday amid heat wave
LOS ANGELES - With a searing heat wave expected to continue later into the week, the manager of California's power grid extended a Flex Alert originally issued Wednesday until Saturday night calling on residents to conserve as much electricity as possible.
The California Independent System Operator issued the Flex Alert "due to high temperatures pushing up energy demand and tightening available power supplies," early Wednesday afternoon, before extending it to Thursday, Friday, Saturday and now Sunday.
A little before 5 p.m. Friday, the California ISO said the same alert will be in effect for the same times — 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. — on Saturday, Sept. 3. It was also extended to include Sunday as well.
"With excessive heat in the forecast across much of the state and Western U.S., the grid operator is expecting high electricity demand, primarily from air conditioning use, and is calling for voluntary conservation steps to help balance supply and demand," according to Cal-ISO.
The power system operators warned that more Flex Alerts are likely to be posted in the coming week and through the Labor Day weekend.
During the alerts, residents are urged to take power-saving steps such as
- setting thermostats to 78 degrees or higher;
- avoiding use of major appliances;
- turning off unnecessary lights; and
- avoid charging electric vehicles.
On Friday, Glendale Power and Water warned residents without major conservation efforts, it could be forced to implement rolling power outages.
Residents were advised to pre-cool their homes as much as possible, and close blinds and drapes to keep interiors cool.
A Flex Alert is the lowest-level notification issued by Cal-ISO, but if voluntary conservation fails to cut strain on the power grid, the agency could move into a series of emergency alerts that could ultimately lead to rolling blackouts.