Video: Utility warns customers to conserve power

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SEATTLE - Hoping to avoid a blackout, Seattle City Light asked its customers in the downtown core Friday to cut power after banks of transformers failed.

Utility spokesman Mike Eagan says workers were doing maintenance on two banks of transformers at the Union Street substation Friday when two others failed. That means only two of the six banks there were working.

Seventy blocks of the downtown core is served by the substation which includes major high rises.

Some businesses shut down elevators. Others used emergency backup power in an effort to conserve energy on one of the hottest days of the year.

"If we didn't get one of these banks of transformers back in service when we did, we would have had to have started to discontinue power on a mandatory basis," said Jorge Carrasco, Seattle City Light.

City Light initially reported that it cut power to businesses along the waterfront, from Pier 52 to Broad Street, to perform repairs to the transformer banks, but later said power was not cut.

At the Downtown Seattle Library, it's lights out. A normally bright and cheery children's section was noticeably dim Friday.

"I thought the library was closing early because they turned the lights out," said library visitor Perry Palmer.