Beating the Heat: LADWP Power Reliability

Over the past few weeks, Los Angeles has seen some of the hottest temperatures of the year. But even in these periods of extreme heat, LADWP maintains a high level of power reliability. When energy demand climbs as temperatures swell into triple digits, we are well equipped to meet demand increases with ample supply and to protect our customers from experiencing rolling blackouts.

Rolling blackouts occur when energy demand outpaces supply, leading to shortages. Heat waves can render utilities particularly vulnerable, when increased use of air conditioning and other equipment and appliances places greater stress on the electrical grid. Rolling blackouts most recently occurred in California in 2020, but in the City of Los Angeles, we have not had to initiate such measures due to generation supply shortages. In fact, we often are even able to share our excess energy with other utilities to help them meet demand, at times providing enough power for many thousands of customers.

We owe our ability to sufficiently meet these demand increases to the way we are structured. Like many other municipal utilities in California, we are vertically integrated: we handle our own energy generation, transmission, and distribution. We control our energy from the moment it is generated until it reaches the customer’s electrical meter, ready at the flick of a switch or press of a button to illuminate a room or operate equipment. And with this control, we are in a strong position to plan and prepare for anticipated high-load days, and to respond to unforeseen problems that could potentially lead to a supply shortage.

On the other hand, California’s investor owned utilities generate almost none of their own energy, leaving them with less control during periods when demand is high. This makes them more susceptible to supply shortages, which can require them to initiate rolling blackouts.

Even without energy shortages, our customers may still experience outages during heat waves. At times, outages happen on an equipment level, occurring when a particular piece of equipment malfunctions as a result of stress or overheating. Despite these heat-related equipment failures, our system’s power reliability ranks among the highest in the nation, standing in the first quartile for average service interruption frequency and duration.

Energy conservation is something we urge among all customers during forecasted high-load days, even with such reliable power. Through our Demand Response (DR) program, commercial customers have the opportunity to participate in designated DR events during periods of peak energy demand. In addition to seeing a lower energy bill and helping reduce strain on the grid, participating businesses also receive financial incentives based on the amount of energy they are able to curtail during an event.

To learn more about our Demand Response program, please visit www.ladwp.com/drprogram. Our Outage Notification Program can notify you about outages that impact your business; more information about the program is available here.