Power outages reported in SoCal as heat strains grid

Various power outages have been reported across Southern California on Saturday as the heat puts increasing strain on the region's power grid.

About 10,000 Southern California Edison customers went without power in the Orange/Santa Ana area starting at 3:46 p.m., but most were restored in less than an hour, Edison said. About 1,100 customers still did not have power as of 5 p.m., but were expected to have it restored by 7:15 p.m.

Smaller outages were also reported in Tustin, Montebello, Palos Verdes Estates and other areas, although some had been planned in advance due to maintenance needs.

Edison said it had extra staff on standby this weekend as temperatures were expected to hit the triple digits in some areas on Sunday and Monday.

The company asked customers to help save power by reducing their energy use from noon to 6 p.m., turning off lights and dialing back air-conditioning to 78 degrees.

For those without air-conditioning, a list of cooling centers is available here.