Evergy officials say they have the generating capacity to meet the demand for electricity during this week’s heat wave in Kansas.

In a statement issued Monday, Evergy Senior Vice President Chuck Caisley said the system is reliable, and “while we have seen some outages over the past few days, it’s been within normal expectations for extremely hot weather. Crews are responding quickly to restore power when outages occur.”

An outage in south Wichita affected close to 6,000 customers late Sunday afternoon, but most power was restored by the evening.  An explosion at a substation near Seneca and MacArthur was blamed for the outage.  Crews had most power restored around 6 p.m.   Another outage on Monday affected over 1,300 customers south of downtown Wichita.

Evergy has offered tips for customers to keep things cool in their homes:

• Cook with small appliances. Ovens release heat that makes it harder to keep your home cool. Try cooking with appliances that use less energy, such as microwaves, crockpots, or an air fryer.
• Close blinds, shades, or curtains to block sunlight during the hottest part of the day – especially for south- or west-facing windows.
• Turn ceiling fans counterclockwise to push cool air down. Just remember to turn them off when you leave the room, since fans cool people, not rooms.
• Keep cool air from heading out an exterior door by placing a draft stopper to block gaps at the threshold, adding weatherstripping inside door frames, or attaching a door seal to the bottom of the door.
• Make sure HVAC filters have been changed. Changing them every three months keeps air flowing properly and ensures furnaces and air conditioners work at peak efficiency.

Evergy says customers can report a power outage online at evergy.com or by calling 888-544-4852. For those without access to air conditioning, cooling centers will be available. Both Kansas and Missouri residents can call the United Way’s 211 line to find locations.