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Thousands without power as Southland breaks energy usage records

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As more than 10,000 customers dealt with power outages in the Southland, utility companies reported record-breaking electrical usage.

The DWP said Monday’s energy demand record was shattered Tuesday, with electrical usage peaking at nearly 6,400 megawatts. Monday’s peak was about 6,200 megawatts.

On Tuesday afternoon, the DWP reported about 3,500 power outages. About 1,500 of those were in the Vermont-Vista neighborhood in South Los Angeles, an additional 385 were in Encino and the rest were scattered throughout Los Angeles, said Michelle Vargas, a spokeswoman for the utility.

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Crews are trying to fix the outages, but there was no estimate for when the power would be restored.

Randy Howard, senior assistant general manager for the DWP, said the utility has enough power supply to meet the boosted demand, but issues arise when it tries to deliver that power to households.

As heat lingers into the evening, electrical equipment doesn’t have a chance to cool down as Angelenos continue running their air conditioners full blast, adding to the risk of equipment failure, Howard said. Most outages tied to the heat are blown fuses, but some require crews to replace transformers -- a process that can take 10 to 15 hours.

DWP spokesman Joseph Ramallo said the power system was faring better compared to the last major heat wave eight years ago. Then, the utility suffered about 900 failed transformers over the course of 10 days -- an average of 90 a day. So far, the department estimates about 50 transformers will have failed in the five days since the heat wave started Friday, Ramallo said.

About 7,000 Southern California Edison customers were without power Tuesday as well.

SCE customers used the most power of the year Monday, the utility said, at 23,055 megawatts.

Crews that were set to perform routine maintenance on scheduled outages were called off and the jobs canceled so they could be redirected to “more critical areas where they’ve been without service the longest,” said Susan Cox of Southern California Edison.

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Cox had no estimate on how long some have been without power, but said it hasn’t been days. There was also no estimate on when power was expected to be restored because like the DWP, the outages go on and off depending on the area.

For breaking news, follow @JosephSerna.

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