Californians By the Hundreds of Thousands Hit With Preemptive Rotating Blackouts During Severe Heat Wave

Hundreds of thousands of people living in California could be hit with preemptive blackouts after a record-breaking heatwave rolled on Friday.

As temperatures in the Golden State hit 112 degrees, the company that runs its electric grid announced rolling blackouts starting at 6:30 pm for as many as 250,000 homes and businesses in the northern and central parts of California.

This is political, because California puts restrictions on energy companies over environmental reasons, blocking them from creating new stations to handle electricity for new housing or industrial development.  Such restrictions were what cost Governor Joseph Gray “Gray-Out” Davis his seat to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, because Californians were so frustrated with the Davis government mismanaging their power grid that they did a recall election, removed him, then held a new election and elected the Terminator into office who brought some sanity back to the state’s power situation.

What happened was the California government told power companies that no matter what the rising costs of their services, being it employee raises and the rising costs of equipment, they were not allowed to pass those costs onto consumers in the form of rate increases.  At first, the power companies tightened their belts and got rid of deadwood employees, but after time, costs caught up them, along with more and more demand for power.  They eventually could no longer supply the power that was in demand.

In usual progressive moronic fashion, rather than the California government allowing rate hikes, they purchased electricity from power companies in neighbor states.  That went fine for a while until the governor then told the out-of-state power companies that they too could not increase rates to cover operating expenses.  That’s when they pulled out of the deal.

The current problem is the first time rotating blackouts have been applied since the state faced its energy crisis almost 20 years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Officials have urged Californians to conserve energy and keep thermostats at 78 degrees or higher while the state gets ready for more than a week of mercilessly scorching hot weather. Residents had been asked to not use any major appliances between 3 pm and 10 pm.

Californians should just think of it like they’re on vacation in Venezuela.  For a change of pace, at night they can pretend they’re living in North Korea.

“We’re going to experience record-breaking temperatures, as the case in any jurisdiction on the globe, that means we could all do well just to be thoughtful of our electricity and energy consumption,” Governor Gavin Newsom said on Friday.  But keep your masks on and stay inside!

The California Independent System Operator, issued the emergency, “after extreme heat drove up electricity demand across California, causing the ISO to dip into its operating reserves for supply to cover demand,” the company said in a statement.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. stated it will be cutting power off to between 200,000 to 250,000 customers for hour-long blocks between 6:30 pm and 11 pm Friday.

“We urge our customers to take immediate steps to reduce their power usage,” said Michael Lewis, the interim president of PG&E. “We will work to restore power safely and as quickly as we are able.”

Rich Welsh

Rich is  syndicated opinion columnist for David Harris Jr. and owner of Maga-Chat.com.  He writes about politics, culture, liberty and faith.

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