Will rolling blackouts hit SLO County? ‘Yes, it is possible,’ PG&E says
You might want to get your portable chargers ready.
PG&E announced that millions of California residents could be impacted by a series of rolling blackouts across the state on Monday — and San Luis Obispo County isn’t out of the line of fire.
PG&E says the outages are meant to preserve resources as the state’s power grid faces potential deficits during a sweltering heat wave that’s pressing down upon much of the state. The outages could begin sometime Monday afternoon and could last six hours, according to a Sacramento Bee report.
The blackouts will be rolled out among groups of customers on an hourly basis, though some customers could lose electricity for up to two hours, according to the Sacramento Bee.
PG&E did not announce where the outages are likely to hit, but PG&E spokesman Mark Mesesan confirmed to The Tribune that San Luis Obispo County could see some loss of power.
“Yes, it is possible,” Mesesan wrote in an email Monday afternoon. “Unfortunately, there is not enough notice given by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) for us to warn our customers, so we ask everyone to prepare for such an outage by having a plan.”
According to Mesesan, once PG&E is notified of the need to remove a certain amount of load from the grid it has to execute the appropriate measures — i.e. a blackout — immediately.
The good news? If you experience an outage today, it’s unlikely you’ll experience another one in the coming days, he said.
“We try and ensure that customers who experience a rotating outage one day won’t have to endure it on successive days,” Mesesan said. “We’ll identify other areas.”
Above-average temperatures are expected to last across the Central Coast through Wednesday. During that time, PG&E is asking customers to conserve energy to help prevent stress and strain on the electrical supply that could lead to outages.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
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