State Calls Stage 2 Power Emergency Again

Blaming a shortage of electricity, the California Independent System Operator declared a Stage 2 power emergency for the second consecutive day and asked the state’s big utilities to cut electricity to large customers who have agreed to that possibility in exchange for lower rates. A total of 12,000 megawatts of electricity generation was unavailable due to maintenance, and imports from the Pacific Northwest were sharply reduced. “November is a big month to do maintenance because usually you don’t have these cold snaps,” Cal-ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle said. In a Stage 2 emergency, the state’s power grid is within 5% of running out of available power. San Diego Gas & Electric reported record natural gas usage on Monday of 600 million cubic feet and needed to cut gas service to some large industrial customers, including two electricity plants, which switched to fuel oil to generate power. The utility, along with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, was told by Cal-ISO to cut electricity to some large customers Monday. The gas and electricity curtailments continued Tuesday, an SDG&E; spokesman said, noting that residential and small-business customers are not in danger of losing gas service.