Wednesday June 14, 3:37 pm Eastern Time Heatwave forces some power cuts in San Francisco area

LOS ANGELES, June 14 (Reuters) - The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which operates much of the states' power grid, said Wednesday it has asked San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric to interrupt service to some industrial and commercial customers.

A spokeswoman said the request was made due to unusually hot weatehr and problems with a couple of generation sources which supply the area.

Some industrial and commercial customers receive power at a lower rate in return for agreeing to have their supply interrupted when reserves drop below five percent.

``It (the supply problem) is limited to the Bay area,'' a spokeswoman said.

Weather Services Corp. was forecasting triple digit temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday in Californian cities such as Sacramento (peaking at 105 degrees F both days), Fresno (105 and 108) and San Jose (102 and 104).

Hot weather leads to increased demand for electricity due to the heavy use of air conditioning units.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 14, 2000