Avista says more rolling blackouts will occur Tuesday

SPOKANE — A Spokane-based electrical utility used “temporary unplanned power outages,” otherwise known as rolling blackouts, on Monday to meet power demand as temperatures reached a record-tying 105 degrees in Spokane.

Avista said about 8,200 customers lost power in parts of Spokane on Monday, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Temperatures are expected to be a few degrees hotter on Tuesday, and more customers will likely see rolling blackouts during the day, said Heather Rosentrater, Avista’s senior vice president for energy delivery.

Rosentrater said Avista is planning to use one-hour power outages over the course of Tuesday and intends to let people know ahead of time.

She said Monday’s outages were largely triggered by alarms on the power system that forced the utility to take immediate action.

The company asked customers to conserve energy as temperatures are expected to continue exceeding triple digits all this week. Avista is calling for customers to reduce electricity use between 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. through Thursday.

The company serves 400,000 customers across a large territory in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon.