California heat wave leaves power outages threatening for millions as Governor Newsom calls for investigation

Millions of homes and businesses in California are at risk of continued blackouts until Wednesday, following an extreme heat wave that put stress on the state’s electrical system.

The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which handles most of the state’s electrical flow, said it managed to avoid the third day of power outages Monday night due to “lower temperatures and conservation “. A level 2 emergency was canceled at 7:30 p.m.

“Thank you for keeping,” said ISO California in a tweet.

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ISO had warned earlier in the day that up to 3.3 million homes and businesses would be affected by an emergency evening ordinance that would have required utilities to run two-hour rotating shutdowns per zone.

Record heat has hit California and other western states since late last week, which officials say has made it harder for California to import additional energy.

“What we have is a situation where the whole region is more than hot, it’s extremely hot,” Steve Berberich, ISO California president and CEO, said on a conference call with journalists. “We can’t get the energy that we would normally get out of state because it is used to serve loads natively. That would probably be an additional 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts and could very well have filled the gap. difference. “

Current supply problems and shortages are the most serious to hit the California grid since 2001, the last time utilities resorted to continual blackouts, according to Reuters.

California’s ISO has struggled to reduce demand for electricity since Friday, when it issued the first blackouts in nearly 20 years.

The three largest utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric – cut power to more than 410,000 homes and businesses for about an hour at a time until the emergency declaration. ends 3 and a half hours later.

Teleprinter	security	Latest	Change	Change%
PCG	PG&E CORP.	9.17	-0.24	-2.55%
SCE-C	n / A	n / A	n / A	n / A
SEA	ENERGY SEMPRA	129.68	-2.21	-1.68%

A second, but shorter outage hit Saturday night, affecting more than 200,000 customers.

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While the ISO avoided what would have been one of the largest rounds of power outages in the state’s history on Monday, a “flexible alert” still remains from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. until Wednesday, because customers are always encouraged to save energy.

“This heatstorm is not over and we still expect extremely hot temperatures tomorrow and Wednesday,” Berberich said in a statement Monday evening. “With the continued help of California residents to conserve energy, like today, we can reduce the risk of power outages.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered an investigation into the power outages and signed an emergency proclamation to free up excess energy capacity.

“These blackouts, which have occurred without prior warning or sufficient preparation time, are unacceptable and unacceptable for the country’s largest and most innovative state,” Newsom wrote in an emergency proclamation. “It can’t hold up.

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At a press conference on Monday, the governor said he was ready to “move forward to just make sure this doesn’t happen again”.

“We have failed to predict and plan for these shortages and this is simply unacceptable,” he said. “People should have known about this sooner and that is exactly the purpose of this investigation.”

Grid managers have warned the threat of blackouts persists, as temperatures are expected to hit triple digits again in many parts of the state. The national weather service said it could take until Friday or Saturday before excessive heat watches and warnings subside.

The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, said while no outages were needed Monday night, the risk remains for the rest of the week as the heat drags on.

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“Our customers of all sizes stepped up their efforts today to conserve electricity and reduce pressure on the state’s electricity grid,” said Laurie Giammona, senior vice president and chief customer officer of PG&E in a statement. “We are extremely grateful for their efforts – which have been very effective in avoiding rotating service disruptions statewide.”

Customers are urged to keep saving until Thursday evening.

But for Bonnie Wikler, a Coalinga resident, who lost power twice over the weekend, power outages were another stressful as her husband recovers from open heart surgery.

Wikler, 66, told The Associated Press they didn’t want to drive elsewhere for fear of exposure to the coronavirus, and instead stayed home while trying to cool themselves down as temperatures hit 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

“If there was a fire or an earthquake I would understand, but cutting the power without letting you know it just seems strange to me,” Wikler said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.