California Declares Stage 2 Power Emergency

California’s electricity system is so precarious that, with crisp fall weather prevailing, state officials declared a Stage 2 power emergency--signifying that the electricity grid serving about 75% of the state was within 5% of running out of available power. The California Independent System Operator declared the emergency at 5 p.m. Monday because demand, which was expected to peak at nearly 34,000 megawatts, was pushing close to the edge of available supply. Supply was reduced by about 11,000 megawatts, or enough to power about 11 million homes, because of planned maintenance that was put off during earlier statewide power shortages. Normally at this time of year, power plants producing about 2,500 megawatts of electricity are unavailable, a Cal-ISO spokeswoman said. About 1,000 megawatts of power were turned off for a time at business customers of Southern California Edison that had previously agreed to the possibility in exchange for lower rates.