LAS VEGAS— Rolling blackouts swept through Las Vegas on July 2, marking the first time blackouts were experienced outside of California since the energy crisis began. With a Western heat wave baking Las Vegas, Nevada Power Co. cut electricity beginning at 4:10 p.m. for 45 minutes to about 10,000 customers. Temperatures hit 114 degrees at the airport and were reported as high as 120 degrees on the strip, pushing power demand for air conditioning to record levels. Along the Strip, the outages passed largely unnoticed even with hundreds of thousands of gamblers and visitors poured in for the Fourth of July holiday week. Casinos, shopping malls and other public gathering places are exempt from rolling blackouts in Nevada. But the casinos did voluntarily cut back their power use, saving a total of 50 megawatts. The Aladdin and Bellagio casinos shut off their fountains, and Caesars Palace and the Las Vegas Hilton cut back on air conditioning in ‘non-essential areas,’ such as in ballrooms that were not being used. Since the outages hit during the day, the city’s famous lights werent an issue. SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, CA
