Israel Electric Company (IEC) Chairman of the Board Yiftach Ron-Tal announced this morning, 22 Tammuz 5772 that the sweltering heat is bringing nationwide demand to an unprecedented level. He announced that he expects today’s demand to exceed 11,500 megawatts and the utility company simply cannot meet this demand.
On Wednesday, 21 Tammuz, the utility company reached 96% capacity and temperatures were in the low 90s, expected to continue climbing through shabbos. company officials explain IEC will max out at 11,900 MW.
IEC announced that one-hour rolling blackouts are likely and the company will do its best to make advanced notification wherever possible. Officials urge residents to cut back on using appliances including washers, dryers, dishwashers, ovens and the like from noon until 17:00. Company officials are also asking to set air conditioning thermostats to 25C (77F) to cut back on demand.
13:37: Israel Electric has moved to an “orange alert” due to the collapse of critical equipment in the Ashkelon power station. Blackouts are being reported in the Lower Galil, Kfar Saba and Modi’in area. Utility officials report these outages are not “planned” but the result of system malfunctions.
The weather forecast for the coming days reports the thermometer will continue to climb, reaching in the mid-90sF today and continuing to climb on Friday and shabbos.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Don’t worry there will not be any power outages in the Haredi areas today; these will be reserved for Erev Shabbos when every Jewish housewife is preparing for Shabbos. That is standard IEC policy.