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Thousands of Southern Californians remained without power on Tuesday amid a scorching heat wave that has resulted excessive heat warnings and heat advisories for parts of the region.

Power lines are seen in this file photo. (Credit: KTLA)
Power lines are seen in this file photo. (Credit: KTLA)

About 3,900 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers were without power as of 1 p.m., with the majority of the outages located in the Vermont Vista area, according to a spokesperson.

Crews have been working to restore power since the first outages were reported on Tuesday when customers set a new all-time high for energy demand, according to a news release from the LADWP.

The city utility’s energy demand record was initially set Monday — at 6,196 megawatts — but was broken on Tuesday, at 6,396 megawatts, DWP stated on Twitter.

The record was surpassed before 2 p.m. , according to DWP, which is the nation’s largest public electric utility.

Meanwhile, Southern California Edison reported on their website that nearly 4,000 customers were without power as of about 11:45 p.m. A majority of the outages were in L.A. County.

The outages come during what was expected to be another day of sweltering heat. Utilities were urging the public to conserve energy and minimize or eliminate appliance use during daytime hours before 8 p.m.

SoCal Edison dubbed Wednesday a “Save Power Day,” under a program that lets customers earn money back if they conserve energy use between 2 and 6 p.m.

An excessive heat warning was issued for the Los Angeles and Ventura County Valleys, and the Santa Monica Mountains until 7 p.m. as temperatures were forecast to climb between 100 and 110 degrees in many areas, according to the National Weather Service.

Heat advisories for Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties were also expected to remain in effect until 7 p.m., according to the weather service.

Several cooling centers have been set up throughout the Southland for people to beat the heat. SCE provided list of locations and hours online.

City facilities, such as senior citizen centers, recreation and parks facilities and libraries, may also be used as cooling centers, the L.A. Emergency Management Department has suggested. A list of those locations can be found found here.

Temperatures were set to decrease beginning on Wednesday, but humidity was expected to increase as moisture from Tropical Storm Odile moves into the area.

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