Rolling Blackouts Ordered Monday In San Diego County: SDG&E

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — San Diego Gas & Electric was ordered to begin rolling blackouts Monday amid the scorching heat wave, affecting potentially more than 100,000 customers.

The blackouts were ordered by the California Independent System Operator, which manages the electrical grid for the state, due to excessive heat and high energy demand.

"Energy conservation remains critically important to help avoid the need for rotating outages, as well as the duration of outages and the number of customers affected," the utility said in a statement. "Everyone is urged to do their part to cut back on energy use during this critical time."

Customers should expect to be without power for about an hour, according to SDG&E. (Find out if you might be impacted.)

"Given the severity of the weather and grid conditions, it's possible that more widespread rotating outages would occur throughout the state in the coming days," the utility said. "Customers who were impacted by the rotating outages on Friday and Saturday could again be impacted."

SDG&E urged customers to take the following steps to save energy:

• Set air-conditioning thermostats to 78 degrees
• Use large appliances before 4 p.m. or after 9 p.m.
• Defer or reduce the use of pool pumps
• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed
• Turn off all unnecessary lighting
• Defer or reduce all non-essential use of commercial and industrial equipment