California Residents Encouraged to Reduce Electricity Use during Extreme Temperatures
California is experiencing a record-breaking heat wave and residents are urged to reduce electricity as growing demand is causing a strain on the power grid.
To help avoid a shortage of energy resources and potential outages across the state, Energy Upgrade California encourages Californians to:
• Avoid Peak Times: Reducing energy usage is especially important during peak hours of 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Consider charging your electronic devices, starting a load of laundry or running the dishwasher outside of these hours.
• Stay Cool and Energy Conscious: Use fans to cool your home or set your thermostat to 78 degrees or higher. Move any furniture blocking vents to be sure air is flowing efficiently, turn the air conditioner off when you are not home and pull the blinds down to keep sunlight from heating your home.
• Be Aware of Household Energy Suckers: Televisions, game consoles, computer monitors, coffee makers and other small appliances should be unplugged when not in use. Turn unnecessary lights off, indoors and outdoors. Avoid using your oven while cooking and limit opening your refrigerator and freezer.
• Reduce Strain from Distance Learning and Home Offices: Consider investing in a power strip with an on/off switch dedicated to home office or learning devices, such as tablets and computers. Turn down the screen brightness and use eco-mode and other energy-saving features as lowering the brightness on TVs and computer monitors may help use up to 20% less energy.
• Stay Safe if Power is Down: In the event power is turned off for customers, check on neighbors, friends and family in a socially distance manner. Remember that this type of power shutoff is short term and impacted customers would likely be without power for about an hour or two.
For more information, visit www.energyupgradeca.org. For more specifics about individual households, contact your local energy provider.
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