Rotating Outages Ordered in California

California faces its first rolling blackouts in the long electricity ordeal. The California Independent System Operation ordered Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to begin implementing rotating outages throughout Northern California today. By doing so, the ISO hopes to maintain electric service to customers that provide essential public safety services, such as hospitals and fire stations.

The action comes a day after the California Assembly approved measures allowing the state to buy electricity from wholesalers and sell it to utilities at a reduced rate under long-term contracts. The state Senate has yet to approve the measure. The California ISO has initiated a Stage 3 electric emergency due to a lack of generation resources available in California and reduced imports from the Pacific Northwest. The ISO reports more than 11,000 megawatts of electric generation capacity off-line due to planned and unplanned power plant outages.

The California ISO ordered rotating block outages to begin at 11:50 a.m. The rotating block outages will begin with customers on computerized circuits in Blocks 3 and 4, and proceed under the direction of the ISO. The order asks the utility to reduce demand by 400 megawatts, which will impact approximately 200,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers. Municipal utilities and irrigation districts in Northern California have also been ordered to reduce demand by 100 megawatts.

The maximum duration of the controlled outages for any individual customer is expected to be 60 to 90 minutes. Each customer’s rotating outage block number is shown on their monthly bill. Rotating outage blocks are numbered from 1 through 14. Essential services, such as hospitals, fire departments, police stations and other vital government functions will not be impacted at this level of rotating block outages.