Update, 6:35 p.m. Power outages in Berkeley on Monday could last up to five hours and could return Tuesday and Wednesday from 3-10 p.m., the city said.
Update, 5:53 p.m. Authorities in Berkeley have just announced that 33,964 PG&E customers “will be included in rolling blackouts this evening. PG&E has not indicated the areas that will be affected. For more information, call PG&E at 800-743-5000. If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 9-1-1. City staff sent out a warning around 5.50pm with this new information, a few minutes after PG&E informed the city of these details.
Original story: Some areas of Berkeley may lose power on Monday “because of state energy demands in the end,” Berkeleyside learned.
Alameda County has been reporting all day about the possibility of strikes, but none of them contained specific information about Berkeley. Local residents also received robocalls about what were described as the possibility of “rotating outages” in the area. Officials said reducing energy consumption in the ongoing heatwave could prevent outages.
Just before 4:10 p.m., city staff sent Berkeley council members an email saying “some parts” of Berkeley could lose power one to two hours between now and 10 a.m. Monday. The city is trying to get more information from PG&E about where the outages will occur, how long they will last and whether all medical baseline customers – people who need electricity for their medical needs – will be affected, one person said who received the email.
The province has asked local residents and businesses to maintain power from 3-10 a.m. Monday through Thursday because of the expected voltage on the grid of what has been described as a record-breaking, sustained hot wave.
“Due to higher power requirements statewide, PG&E and the state ISO [Independent System Operator] have issued a statewide flex alarm today and will run until August 20th. Please save 15-10 hours of energy consumption in your household, ”Alameda County officials wrote in an AC Alert message Monday. “There is a strong possibility of rolling out blackouts throughout the state. This means that there is a potential to lose power to your area due to congestion on the electrical network. There is also a potential for local heat-related outages not related to these rolling black outs. Please make preparations for a potential loss of power for your household. ”
More information is available online at http://www.flexalert.org.
Tips for saving energy from authorities include raising the thermostat, using fans, covering windows, preventing oven use, keeping the refrigerator as clean as possible and limiting washing and washing until early in the day or after 10 p.m.
The city had not provided its email to Berkeley Page or shared other information since the time of publication despite repeated investigations. PG&E did not respond to a request for information.
Berkeley page will share additional details as they become available.
