by Ashe Schow, Daily Wire:

Californians now fear a repeat of the rolling blackouts that occurred during the 2001 energy crisis.

Late last Friday, about two million Californians lost power over four hours, Bloomberg reported. The blackouts come as the state is set to deal with a heat wave expected to last until the middle of next week. The heat wave is anticipated to bring temperatures over 110 degrees, which Bloomberg reported would lead to increased strain on the power system as people need their air conditioners and fans more than usual.

The blackouts “started at about 6:30 p.m. local time on Friday, when California’s grid operator determined through a complex calculation that the state’s power reserves had fallen below a critical threshold and called a Stage 3 grid emergency, which triggers what it describes as ‘load interruption,’” Bloomberg reported.

“The last time such a declaration was made during the 2000 and 2001 electricity crisis, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses took turns being plunged into darkness, power prices surged to a record and the state’s largest utility was forced into bankruptcy,” the outlet continued.

On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) official Twitter account warned about the heat wave and urged residents to conserve energy during the peak hours of between 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. The account urged residents to:

• Set thermostat at 78° or higher


• Use fans &close curtains


• Turn off unnecessary lights


• Use major appliances in off hours

Anna Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the state’s power grid manager, California Independent System Operator, told Bloomberg the state “had an energy shortfall.” The agency had to tell state utilities to decrease demand by 1,000 megawatts.

“That’s enough to power about 750,000 homes, by California ISO’s estimates, affecting well over 2 million people based on the average household size,” Bloomberg reported.

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