SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Struggling to stave off rolling blackouts Labor Day evening, managers of California’s beleaguered power grid declared an energy emergency alert Monday and warned that Californians might have to double or triple their energy conservation efforts to prevent the lights from going out.
The Independent System Operator, which runs the electricity grid, declared a Stage 1 emergency alert, a sign that supplies were turning increasingly tight as temperatures crept past 100 degrees. The organization said it is “forecasting an energy deficiency.”
Blackouts — the first in two years — would likely come if the crisis progressed to the point that the ISO had to declare a Stage 3 alert.
