ST. GEORGE — With temperatures reaching up to 113 degrees, the city of St. George issued its first “orange alert” for the season on Wednesday.
The alert is part of a color-coded system designed to alert residents of the need to conserve energy in order to avoid overloading the city’s power grid.
The St. George area is expected to see highs of 113-114 degrees between Wednesday and Friday, according the weather forecast. These high temperatures can put added strain on the city’s energy services, particularly during the peak use hours of 3-7 p.m.
Bryan Dial, the city of St. George’s energy services director, said in a video posted to Facebook that while the city isn’t in danger of experiencing a power failure, reducing power use during peak hours during times of excessive heat will help lessen the pressure on the power grid. Keeping power use down also has the benefit of saving on energy bills, he added.
“When we say on orange day, we mean a lot of people will be drawing on power,” Dial said in the video. “We’re in a heatwave right now and we’re expecting to hit a high point on Friday … We expect there to be a lot of people drawing power from the grid … We just want to make sure everyone is being as thoughtful as possible, because realistically the less (power) you use, the more you save on you bill.”
Regionally, St. George is a part of the western U.S. power grid which runs from western Canada down into northern Mexico, Dial said.
As of Wednesday, there are 25 active wildfires within that region, and California is experiencing the tail end of a heatwave wave that is expected to break on Thursday. Combined with southwest Utah’s own heatwave and a host of other factors, there’s already a lot of strain on the grid, so taking off some of that stress wouldn’t be a bad idea, he said.
- Avoid using the oven; try barbecuing instead.
- Avoid using the dishwasher and laundry machines during peak hours.
- Avoid opening and closing doors to the outside.
- Avoid charging electric vehicles during peak hours.
The system is a part of the “Use Less, Save More” campaign launched by the city and Dixie Power in May 2021, and has three alert levels: green, orange and red. The alerts can be found online on the St. George Energy Services Department Facebook page whenever an orange or red alert is issued.
A sign up for alert notifications and energy saving tips can also be found on the city of St. George website.
While the city has had several green days and a handful of orange days since its inception, the only red alert issued by the system thus far was on June 17, 2021, when the temperature topped 110 degrees.
Each color has a short series of tips on what to do to save on energy use depending on the level of the alert.
| Green |
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| Orange |
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| Red |
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By conserving energy, residents can save money on power bills and help reduce demand on the power system – especially during the peak hours, Colin Jack, chief operating officer for Dixie Power, said in a 2021 press release detailing the campaign.
“That lessens the possibility of a rolling blackout, which is what we want to avoid,” Jack said. “Let’s all work together and sacrifice just a little bit to help us stay cool during the summer months.”
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