Lawmakers and consumer groups expressed outrage on Monday that the operator of California’s electricity grid had not adequately prepared for a heat wave and was resorting to rolling blackouts. The blackouts, which started on Friday and were set to continue into Monday night, were reminiscent of an energy crisis 20 years ago, when the state’s botched deregulation of the electricity system left millions of people in the dark and drove the wholesale price of power skyward. Gavin Newsom demanded an investigation into why state regulators had failed to prepare for high temperatures, which had been forecast for days. “These blackouts, which occurred without prior warning or enough time for preparation, are unacceptable and unbefitting of the nation’s largest and most innovative state,” Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, said in a letter Monday to the state’s three major energy agencies.

Source: New York Times August 17, 2020 22:04 UTC