Rolling Blackouts Averted: 'Thank You California'

BAY AREA, CA — Rolling blackouts over the Bay Area were averted Tuesday evening thanks to customers voluntarily reducing their impact on grids, according to the California Independent System Operator.

"Thank you, California!" the state's power grid operator wrote on Twitter at 8 p.m. after announcing that the Energy Emergency Alert and the possibility of rotating power outages in the state had ended due to people reducing their energy use.

"Consumer conservation played a big part in protecting electric grid reliability," CAISO wrote on Twitter.

Power grid peak demand hit 52,061 megawatts Tuesday, a new all-time record for the state, according to CAISO. However, a possible need for a "load-shed" of strain on the grid was still not necessary and outages were avoided.

The Governor's Office of Emergency Services credits a cellphone alert that went out to targeted counties on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. reminding people conserve energy.

"Conserve energy now to protect public health and safety," the text reads. "Extreme heat is straining the state energy grid. Power interruptions may occur unless you take action. Turn off or reduce nonessential power if health allows, now until 9 p.m."

As a result, the state's energy grid reflected a "significant drop in energy use," according to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

California is experiencing record heat, a stretch of weather the agency says is on track to be the hottest ever recorded in the state for September.

There will be another Flex Alert for Wednesday evening from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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