1 million California homes, businesses could lose power

1 million California homes, businesses could lose power

SeattlePI.com

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Up to 1 million homes and businesses in California were expected to lose power Monday as part of rolling blackouts to ease pressure on the state's electric grid as a dayslong heat wave engulfing the West Coast creates an energy shortage.

The California Independent System Operator said it would likely order utility companies to turn off power later Monday as demand for electricity to cool homes soars during the hottest part of the day beyond the power available in the grid.

“I know that that’s going to be highly disruptive to people. I truly, truly wish there were other options that we had at hand," California ISO CEO and President Steve Berberich said.

However, the number of affected customers dropped dramatically from 3.3 million to 1 million because “expected demand has been decreasing due to slightly lower temperatures and consumer conservation," the grid operator said.

Those affected can expect to lose power for about two hours. Berberich didn’t say where the outages might occur, a decision that is up to the state's utilities. As of 5 p.m., the grid operator had not ordered the utilities to power down.

The first rolling blackouts in nearly 20 years came Friday as unusually hot weather overwhelmed the electrical grid. The three biggest utilities — Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric — turned off power to more than 410,000 homes and businesses for about an hour at a time until the emergency declaration ended 3 1/2 hours later.

A second but shorter outage hit Saturday evening, affecting more than 200,000 customers. Californians packed beaches and river banks over the weekend to cool off from scorching triple-digit temperatures that raised the risk of more wildfires and fears of...

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