Some 220,000 Pacific Gas & Electric Company customers were impacted late Saturday as part of another round of rotating outages directed by California's grid operator, the utility said.
PG&E said the latest round of outages occurred in portions of the Central Coast and Central Valley, including Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Joaquin counties. The outages lasted for about an hour. No customers are expected to be impacted overnight, according to the utility.
Saturday's outages were announced by PG&E just before 7 p.m., hours after the California Independent System Operator said it expected to "cover electrical demand with no stage emergencies planned at this time."
On Friday, PG&E conducted rotating power outages per California ISO's orders and over 200,000 customers were without power for part of the night.
PG&E said it continues to monitor the situation and encourages customers to conserve energy for the duration of a heat wave, which is expected to last through Wednesday. The dangerous heat coupled with lightning in the region prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Red Flag Warning.
In order to save energy, PG&E has released the following tips:
- Set the thermostat to 78 degrees when at home. If you're not home, turn it up to 85 degrees or turn it off.
- Use a ceiling fan.
- Cover windows.
- Avoid using the oven and if possible cook on the stove, use a microwave or grill outside.
- Limit the opening of refrigerators.
