Californian's across the state experienced electrical disruptions to homes and businesses, as temperatures soared on Monday.

With more than 20 deaths linked to the heat wave, electricity usage reached a peak of 50,270 megawatts, short of 52,000 megawatts estimates at the facilities of California Independent System Operator (ISO).

Meanwhile, utility companies experienced other difficulties.

On Monday afternoon, Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation's largest electric utilities with over 4.7 million customers, was working to restore service to 17,000 customers without power.

Since July 13, heat, winds and lightning strikes have caused more than 765,000 SCE customers to experience difficulties, ranging from flickering lights to lengthy outages. Thus far, SCE has identified more than 725 transformer failures due to the weather conditions. Ron Ferree SCE recovery manager said the company sympathized with those affected..

"We recognize how difficult it is for customers to deal with a power outage during a heat wave. It's inconvenient and they're uncomfortable.'

To avoid the energy crisis which occurred in the state in 2001, the state government had signed fixed-price long term contracts, ensuring energy rates oar not e This ensures the energy rate is not determined on the spot.

California Energy