Extreme cold weather in much of the United States and Canada has impacted fuel supplies to power plants in Southern California, resulting in a reduction of electricity generation. As a result, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has issued a statewide Flex Alert for today, Feb. 6, until 10 p.m.

CAISO notes that at 2:28 p.m. a Stage 1 Emergency is imminent and has requested all interruptible power use be suspended (mostly business customers, who have signed up for programs designed to temporarily suspend some of their electricity use).                       

Energy conservation is critical to maintaining grid reliability and service. Southern California Edison (SCE) asks customers to conserve energy immediately:

Here are some conservation tips for customers:

  • Turn thermostats down or off.
  • Shift operations outside the hours of highest electrical demand, from noon-10 p.m.
  • Do not operate appliances or pool equipment until after 7 p.m. or before 7 a.m.
  • Limit the opening and reopening of refrigerators.
  • Turn off all auxiliary or redundant machinery where possible.
  • Turn off lights in any unoccupied area.

For more information: www.sce.com/outages.