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SANTA PAULA, CA - MAY 13: Lineman Bryant Marchese and apprentice lineman Eddie Perez of Southern California Edison power conduct emergency repairs on a damaged underground cable that is being connected to above ground terminals on May 13, 2020 in Santa Paula, California. Edison is focused only on essential work to maintain the grid during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. According to interim District Manager, Skylar Graybill, "The big difference for us now is that we are focused on public safety and reliability. We are thinking about high fire work and circuit reliability. With so many people at home, that reliability is more important than ever. We want to minimize any outage impact that we can. With our crews, we practice a daily wellness screening and we keep our crews in the same pods that help to minimize contact. The same guys are always together. This is the principal the fire departments are using and its the same for us. We also have some sequestered crews of vital workers, they are living in RVs in special areas and are more isolated from contact."
Taking back their previous announcement of possible rotating outages due to the heatwave experienced by the state, the Independent System Operator of California stated that no blackouts are to be expected, Monday.
In a statement released by the ISO, it said that "no rotating power outages" are to be anticipated. The company which manages most of the electric flow in the state said that this could be attributed to the cooling of the weather and also to the power conservation efforts. At round 7:30 PM on Monday, the state of emergency was lifted, NBC reported.
Earlier in the day, Steve Berberich, President, and CEO of California ISO stated that there was a shortage of around 4,000 megawatts of power in the state. The said amount of power equates to what is supplied in more than 3.3 million homes. If the forecasted demand was correct or higher, the shortage would have taken a toll off California's power grid.
Meanwhile, on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom inked an emergency proclamation that would give people permission to use "backup energy sources" during peak periods.
Despite the recent announcement that there will be no experience blackouts to be expected just yet, a "flex alert" was still given for the next two days. The ISO has also asked consumers to make an effort to conserve power.
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Berberich also advised people that the heat storm is far from over and exceedingly hot temperatures are yet to be expected by Tuesday and Wednesday. He also said that the risk of power outages can be decreased with the continued help of the residents in conserving energy.
According to SFGate, the Stage 3 power emergency alert that was issued by the California ISO on Friday was the first in the state in almost two decades.
Moreover, NBC Bay Area reported that on Friday, power supply was cut for about an hour at a time among 410,000 businesses and homes. This was done by the three largest utilities in the state, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Pacific Gas & Electric.
On Monday San Diego Gas and Electric also released a statement asking its consumers to conserve energy. The company said that the weather conditions in the state can result in outages and power shortages over the next few days.
In their statement, the power distributor said that since the heatwave is forecasted to go on until Thursday, the Ca ISO has anticipated a shortage in power which may not be able to meet the high demand.
Meanwhile, Gov. Newsom has sent a letter to both the Ca ISO and the California Energy Commission to conduct an investigation on the outages. He stated that many people and agencies were not made aware and given sufficient warning of the possibility of de-energizations.
Residents are still asked to be vigilant in power conservation through flex alerts that were issued through Wednesday. People are asked to do simple acts in energy conservation such as turning off appliances that are not used and setting their thermostat to 78 degrees or higher.
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