Edison stresses continued conservation of electricity

Temperatures are expected to drop today through the rest of the week, forecasters said.

In Costa Mesa temperatures were recorded at a high of 85 degrees Tuesday and in Newport Beach 83, although it felt worse due to high humidity levels, forecaster Steve Vanderburg said.

Although the temperatures are expected to drop, plenty of power outages were reported in the Newport-Mesa area over the weekend, authorities said.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday 29,260 out of 4.8 million Southern California Edison customers were without power due to strain on the system, spokesman Paul Klein said Tuesday.

Edison has a team researching the outages throughout their coverage, Klein said.

The company set an all-time usage record Friday with 23,303 megawatts of power delivered at 3.p.m., which surpassed the previous record of 22,889 megawatts on July 25, 2006, according to Edison.

Usage went down on Tuesday.

“It’s very important to adhere to the conservation guidelines, and [Edison customers have] done a really good job of that,” Klein said.

Residents are advised to set thermostats at 78 degrees or higher and use fans instead. Also, try not to use power tools between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

— Kelly Strodl