New Flex Alert called, urging electricity conservation
By CALIFORNIAN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Operators of California's electricity grid have declared a Flex Alert for Tuesday to encourage conservation as inland regions, including Kern County, continue to swelter in high heat.
The California Independent System Operator said Monday that the forecast peak demand is 47,500 megawatts and conservation will be critical.
A Flex Alert is an urgent call to conserve electricity and shift use to off-peak hours. It's meant to reduce the demand on the power grid.
A Flex Alert was also called on Friday and Cal-ISO says consumers reduced demand by nearly 1,000 megawatts, equal to the output of two large power plants.
The National Weather Service has issued excessive-heat warnings for the central and southern San Joaquin Valley and from Santa Barbara County through southeastern California.
Mid-afternoon Monday, the temperature in Bakersfield had already soared to 109 degrees, with a 20 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms.
Temperatures in Bakersfield were forecast to remain in the triple-digits throughout the week, with highs predicted at 106 on Tuesday, 103 on Wednesday, 104 on Thursday and 101 on Friday.
A wide area of mountains and adjacent deserts in the inland region east of Los Angeles is under a flash-flood watch because of very moist and unstable conditions that will produce afternoon thunderstorms.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. issued the following tips, urging customers to reduce their energy use, especially between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m:
* Adjust your thermostat to 78 degrees or higher or turn it off if you will be away from home. Use a fan instead of air conditioning, when possible.
* Draw drapes and turn off unnecessary lighting.
* Keep refrigerator full (with bottles of water if nothing else) and unplug the second refrigerator.
* Avoid using electrical appliances and devices. Put off tasks like vacuuming, laundry, dish washing and computer time until after 6 p.m.
* Set your pool pump to run overnight instead of during the day.
Most CommentedMost Popular
The family of David Silva announced Friday it has filed its long-expected federal civil rights claims against the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, six sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant, two California Highway Patrol officers, the county and the state alleging excessive police force killed him.
SACRAMENTO -- The California High-Speed Rail Authority won approval Thursday from a federal railroad oversight board to start construction this summer on the first leg of what would be the nation's first bullet train.
He’s Dr. Merle Haggard now. The bad-boy hero of the rebel strain of music that put Bakersfield on America’s cultural map half a century ago did something Friday he hadn’t done since he was 9: He sat still in school.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District Tuesday night unanimously approved a contract of employment to hire Kevin Silberberg as its new superintendent.
A Bakersfield attorney’s rocky marriage, marked by a divorce suit and a history of loud, public arguments, reportedly erupted into violence early Wednesday morning when police say he turned a gun on his wife and fired.
A woman found dead in a southeast Bakersfield garage Tuesday was identified Friday as 18-year-old Mia Ramirez of Bakersfield.
After a search that lasted much of Tuesday afternoon, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on suspicion of homicide in connection with the discovery of a woman’s body in a southeast Bakersfield garage.
An inmate condemned for the fatal 2007 beating of a 90-year-old Bakersfield woman died, June 2 of natural causes, Corcoran State Prison announced Monday.