Extreme heat increases the potential for more power problems

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- PG&E crews pulled out of a Clovis neighborhood Wednesday morning after restoring power to more than 100 customers. A 90-minute outage before the temperature rose above 100 degrees didn't cause much trouble for the people who were affected.

"It felt kind of getting warm real quick, but when I walked outside and I walked back in, it was cool in the house," said Allan Taylor, Clovis.

This outage was planned maintenance for the power company, so people braced for it. But a transformer broke down on Millbrook during the heat of Tuesday evening, and that is when PG&E crews expect the most trouble right when everybody comes home from work and turns on their AC or their TV or whatever else.

The longer this heat wave lasts, the more strain on the entire system.

"When the system is constantly operating at that level of stress, you see the occasional equipment failure which causes a power outage," said Jeff Smith, PG&E.

Crews are on high alert for this whole week, and PG&E has trucked in extra teams from other parts of the state. But if the heat knocks out your power, until they get it restored, not even solar panels can keep your house cool.

"Let's say the transformer that's feeding your home experiences some sort of an issue because of the heat, your power would still go out," said Smith.