Early beachgoers secure spots on the coast near Santa Barbara, California, on Sunday, August 16, 2020, as the superyacht Bravo Eugenia lies offshore.
John Antczak | AP
A restless California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an emergency proclamation allowing some energy users and utilities to tap backup energy sources amid a day-long heat wave that has led to rolling blackouts affecting hundreds of thousands of households.
The governor warned that customers could lose power again tomorrow morning as of 3 a.m. Monday when spike temperatures hit the state’s power grid. He did not say where the outages might occur.
Newsom acknowledged the state did not predict and plan for the energy shortage.
“I’m not happy about what happened,” he said in a press release this afternoon. “You should not be happy with the moment we are in the state of California.”
Newsom also sent a letter demanding that the state energy commission, state commission for public utilities and the California Independent System Operator investigate broad energy blackouts over two days last week that he said happened without prior warning or enough time to prepare.
He said residents were fighting a heat wave and a pandemic in which they were encouraged to stay home as much as possible without the basic need for electricity.
“These blackouts, which occurred without prior warning or sufficient time for preparation, are unacceptable and unavoidable by the nation’s largest and most innovative state,” Newsom wrote. “This can not stand. California residents and businesses deserve better from their government.”
But Steve Berberich, president and CEO of California Independent System Operator, which operates the state’s electricity grid, said they have warned the state utilities commission for a resource gap.
“We have indicated at the time of submission that the resource adequacy program has been breached and needs to be regulated,” he said. “The situation we are in could have been avoided.”
The state Public Utilities Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Californians took off beaches and riverbanks over the weekend to cool off from scorching triple-digit temperatures that increased the risk of more fires and fears of coronavirus spread.
The unusually hot weather overwhelmed the state’s electric grid, prompting the California ISO to warn of another power outage Sunday, though that one was avoided.
Residents may not be so happy this week, as Berberich said Monday: “Almost certainly we will be forced to ask utilities to reduce power today to millions to balance supply and demand. Today and tomorrow and maybe beyond.”
ISO of California ordered Friday the first rolling outages in nearly 20 years, when utilities ran the state to hide their power burdens. The state’s three largest utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric – shut down power to more than 410,000 homes and businesses for about an hour at a time until the emergency was declared 3 1/2 hours later. some.
The ISO introduced a second, but shorter, rolling outage Saturday night that reduced power to more than 200,000 customers.
The last time a governor in California fell for power outages, he was successfully recalled. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled in October 2003 and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican.
Customers are asked to reduce energy consumption, especially on peak evenings, as the warm weather is expected to last until Wednesday evening.
California also still has to deal with the threat of power outages to prevent wildfires. Thousands were without power for days last year when Pacific Gas & Electric and other utilities shut down lines amid high, dry winds to prevent wildfires.
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