In a press release sent yesterday evening, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) stated that "peak energy demand reached a record-setting high last weekend and near-record on Monday, indicating the need for customers to reduce their electricity use."

Megawatt usage over the weekend and on Monday broke records. Monday's demand was the second highest for a weekday in April while both Sunday and Saturday's power usage peaked at the highest ever for April weekend days.

"The fact that we are seeing such high energy demand so early in the season is a wake-up call - we need our customers to take energy-saving steps that will cut back their energy use now, save them money on their power bill and be ready for continued hot temperatures this summer," said LADWP CEO & General Manager H. David Nahai.

DWP recommends a slew of the usual energy saving techniques such as not using major appliances during the day and replacing regular light bulbs with CFLs (which we highly recommend, considering it can reduce power bills by 40%).

Photo by Sproston Green via Flickr