FORT WORTH, Texas -- Record heat prompted power outages Monday afternoon across North Texas.

About 15 percent of Texas' power supply was already offline Monday for seasonal maintenance, NBC 5 News reported. The heat triggered unseasonable energy demands and by late afternoon, Texans were using more energy than utility companies were prepared to produce.

The Texas Electric Regulatory Board ordered electric utility providers across the state to reduce their loads, prompting rolling blackouts across the area.

"This is a prescribed action that we do to support the electric grid," TXU representative Carol Peters said. "Certain areas will be experiencing rolling blackouts every 15 minutes, but we we'll be taking power off of the system and returning it to different areas."

NBC 5 reported that power was temporarily shut down to several cities including Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Garland, Keller and more.

Traffic lights were also out, causing traffic backups in several cities.

Officials were urging people to reduce energy and electric usage as much possible by setting air conditioners at 78 degrees and limiting the use of electric appliances and lighting.

Officials said the rolling blackouts helped to avoid a wide-scale extended outage.

"It's similar to what would happen in your home if you didn't have circuit breakers in place. You'd burn up equipment. You'd cause real problems, real damage in your home," Peters said.

NBC 5 chief meteorologist David Finfrock said the official high temperature for the day was 101 degrees -- the hottest temperature ever recorded this early in the year.

He said the previous record, which was set in 1925, fell at 2 p.m. when the temperature surpassed 94 degrees.

If temperatures stay in the 100s through the spring, there could be more rolling blackouts. But TXU insists it is prepared for the Texas summer.

"The system we have in place worked just the way it should. It was a little inconvenient," Peters said.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which ordered the blackouts, said customers should start conserving energy. ERCOT is a non-profit corporation that manages the scheduling of the power grid.

The corporation keeps power flowing to about 20 million Texas customers, or about 85 percent of the state's power load.