Los Angeles Electricity Use Hits Record amid Heat Wave

The LA Department of Water and Power urged customers to conserve electricity on Tuesday after customers the day before used record amounts of power for air conditioning to obtain relief from a heat wave

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(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) urged customers to conserve electricity on Tuesday after customers the day before used record amounts of power for air conditioning to obtain relief from a heat wave.

Demand reached 6,196 megawatts on Monday, beating the previous record of 6,177 MWs on Sept. 27, 2010, the utility said in a statement late Monday.

That was nearly double the amount of energy customers use on a typical day in the city, the utility said.

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LADWP forecast that demand on Tuesday would top Monday's record and exceed 6,200 MWs.

After topping 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 C) every day since Friday, the mercury was expected to reach 103 on Tuesday and 93 on Wednesday before temperatures return to near normal levels in the mid 80s on Thursday, according to AccuWeather.com, a weather forecaster.

By conserving power, LADWP said, customers can help reduce the strain on the power grid and minimize the risk of power outages in their neighborhood.

Outages were minimal on Tuesday with just 3,400 customers without power citywide, according to the LADWP website.

LADWP serves about 1.4 million customers.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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