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Tucson Electric Power: Crews prepare for months for excessively hot days, such as the weekend ahead

Posted at 5:23 PM, Jun 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-17 21:09:40-04
This weekend, southern Arizona's heat is ramping up anywhere between 106 and 120 degrees with an Excessive Heat Warning starting on Sunday. 
 
Plus, with the heat and monsoon - Tucson Electric Power said, they have been gearing up for a while to take on this season. 
 
"We really work on trying to complete upgrades to our equipment," said spokesperson Joseph Barrios. "We work on stocking our warehouse, so that when we get a weekend like the one we are facing today, we're prepared and we're ready to go."
 
Barrios said, that preparedness starts months and months in advance. 
 
"We are at a stage now where we are sort of in a reactive frame of mind," Barrios explained. "We know it's going to be hot, we know people are going to be relaying on their air conditioning."
 
That does not mean the shining sun cannot rain on that prepared parade. 
 
TEP said, they have had a few outages just in the last few weeks that can all be blamed on the blazing heat.
 
"There are circumstances where components will simply fail, again because of the heat," Barrios said. "And these might result in outages that effect just five customers, or maybe 20 or maybe 50, and there's really no predicting when or where those are going to happen."
 
So, TEP said, they want the public to call and let them know if their power does shut-off during the weekend. That way, they can come out as quickly as possible and get that cool air back on. 
 
"We do have people on call, we do have people assigned to certain areas, so that when we get a report of an outage they are ready to respond right away," Barrios said.