Greg Lefevre on the lights going out in San Francisco

Greg Lefevre

CNN San Francisco Bureau Chief Greg Lefevre is covering the state's energy shortage, which led to rolling blackouts in much of Northern California on Wednesday afternoon.

Q: What happened?

LEFEVRE: The state ran out of electricity. California's Independent System Operator (ISO) ordered blackouts, beginning just before noon California time. The areas affected are serviced by Pacific Gas and Electric and range from Santa Cruz to the south, to north of San Francisco and across the bay to the East Bay communities.

First hit in the blackouts were San Francisco's tourist areas: Fisherman's Warf, Pier 39, Haight Ashbury neighborhood, the Mission District. Also darkened were the suburb of Burlingame and areas of Silicon Valley in Cupertino and San Jose.

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Q: How long will the blackouts last?

LEFEVRE: Blackouts occur for about one to one 1/2 hour each. The neighborhoods darkened are widely scattered. The blocks where electricity is cut are clusters of electric circuits and are not necessarily geographic blocks. In all, PG&E will darken about 200,000 customers at a time in an effort to save the power grid from crashing.

As each block is darkened, residents are warned about the next block to be darkened by means of an outage number listed on each customer's bill. For example the outage began with block No. 3 customers and will likely include customers through blocks #6 to #8 today. Each block is dark for about an hour. After the next block is switched off, the earlier block is powered back up. This overlap takes about an hour.

Q: What are officials doing about it?

LEFEVRE: The California ISO that brings electricity into California says it is searching "every possible source in the West" for extra megawatts. The state is now pleading with Californians to turn off one more light. Already we have seen in California substantial conservation during recent power emergencies. But the state's overall population growth in recent years, the inability of hydroelectric systems in the northwest to share excess electricity with California, the inability of California's hydroelectric dams to generate even more electricity -- and a reluctance by some electricity suppliers to sell to utilities in California that may soon go bankrupt -- are all contributing to the lack of available extra electricity.

Q: Why haven't we seen blackouts before?

LEFEVRE: State officials have been accused of crying wolf in previous warnings about impending blackouts. The state says that so far, the calls for conservation have been reasonably well-received. This, coupled with federal intervention and, in some cases, forced sharing of electricity with California, had previously averted blackouts. However, some companies that are on so-called voluntary interruption, that is, they agree to go dark -- are running out of patience and money.

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Dynegy
PG&E Corporation
SoCal Edison
  • Deregulation - What this means to you - Electricity Market Issues
System Conditions - The California ISO
California Public Utilities Commission
California Utilities Emergency Association

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