Santa Barbara Hit With Two Power Outages During Heat Wave
The power is back on for tens of thousands of customers after back-to-back power outages hit Santa Barbara in less than 24 hours.
The first one hit at 5:35 p.m. on Thursday.
Nearly 20,000 people on Santa Barbara’s Eastside, Downtown, the Mesa, and Montecito were in the dark.
“We worked quickly, assigned extra crews to get the power restored as quickly as possible, with most power restored just after midnight,” said Rondi Guthrie, spokesperson for Southern California Edison.
At 7:20 a.m. on Friday, another power outage hit Summerland and San Ysidro Road in Montecito.
2,600 customers were affected.
The cause of both outages is under investigation.
But, the record setting heat on Friday may have been a factor.
High temperatures are in the forecast for the weekend and SCE says it is a good time to conserve energy.
“It’s as simple as shutting off lights when you leave the room, limiting time when you open up your refrigerator during the day and turning off unused appliances. It can really make a difference,” Guthrie said.