NEW YORK (AP) — Con Edison is defending its decision to shut off power to thousands of New Yorkers amid the weekend's high temperatures.

The utility said in a statement Monday that disconnecting power was "necessary to prevent longer outages" that would have occurred as a result of additional equipment damage.

A Con Ed spokesman told The Associated Press the company remains focused on restoring power to some 19,000 customers. Many affected customers are in southeast Brooklyn.

Spokesman Allan Drury said the utility regrets "the distress" caused to those customers.

The statement came after Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters he has lost trust in the private company and called for an investigation of the outages.

The mayor said it may be time for the city to consider using another entity to provide its electricity.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for a "full investigation" into the power outages in New York following this weekend's high temperatures.

De Blasio told reporters Monday he has lost trust in Con Edison after the private utility company made a "conscious decision" to shut down power in several neighborhoods.