IID issues Conserve Alert during this week’s Extreme Heat Warning
Peter Daut
COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – An Extreme Heat Warning has been issued for the Coachella Valley causing the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) to place a Conserve Alert on Wednesday and Thursday.
The National Weather Service Extreme Heat Warning began at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and is expected to last through 8:00 p.m. Thursday evening.
IID officials placed this voluntary Conserve Alert for times of the day when the energy grid may be stressed due to the extreme heat expected throughout the valley on Wednesday and Thursday. The IID Conserve Alert warning covers all service areas where IID supplies electricity in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys.
“Although we are not currently experiencing a shortage of power generation resources, we are encouraging our customers to help reduce energy demand during this extreme weather,” said Matt Smelser, IID Energy Manager. “By conserving electricity, we can ease the burden on our infrastructure and help ensure continued reliable service while minimizing the risk of outages.”
District officials encourage customers to take simple steps to conserve their energy voluntarily. This includes avoiding the use of any major appliances between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., turning off unnecessary lights, setting thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, and blocking sunlight from overheating your home.
IID reports that these simple changes can provide relief to the energy grid throughout these extreme weather conditions.
District Spokesman Robert Schettler says, “By issuing the conservative alerts for people voluntarily conserving, a lot of good things happen. There’s less stress on the system and you’re also lowering your power bill.”
News Channel 3’s Peter Daut spoke in-depth with Schettler about the current alert.
For more information on IID Conserve Alerts, visit www.iid.com/ConserveAlert or contact IID Customer Service Center at 1-800-303-7756 to register with their email list.