SAN FRANCISCO — California’s power grid operators are keeping an eye on the thermometer Tuesday after avoiding highly anticipated rolling blackouts a day earlier as an ongoing heat wave stresses the electrical system. The California Independent System Operator warned Monday that as many as 3.3 million homes and businesses would...
1 Million California Homes, Businesses Could Lose Power As Electricity Demand Rises
Up to 1 million homes and businesses across California are expected to lose power Monday evening as part of rolling blackouts to ease pressure on the state's electric grid as a dayslong heat wave engulfing the West Coast creates an energy shortage. The California Independent System Operator said utility companies...
California Legislature Returns Amid Homeless, Climate Crisis
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers returned to work on Monday to tackle a daunting list of challenges that include climate concerns and a growing homeless population — problems magnified by election-year politics. Members of the state Assembly's Democratic majority kicked off the second year of the two-year legislative session by announcing...
CEO says PG&E Got Complacent About Power Outages
SACRAMENTO — The head of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. has told a California legislative committee that the utility became complacent about power shutdowns after successfully completing a few smaller ones. Utility CEO Bill Johnson made the comments Monday in testimony before a California legislative committee that also detailed a...
State Regulators Launch Investigation into Power Outages
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators opened a formal investigation Wednesday into preemptive power outages that blacked out large parts of the state in October, drawing strong rebukes from public officials and residents who said the shut-offs were too broad and poorly executed. The unanimous vote by the California Public Utilities...
Regulators to Open Inquiry Into PG&E Outages
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators will vote Wednesday on whether to open an investigation into pre-emptive power outages that blacked out large parts of the state for much of October as strong winds sparked fears of wildfires. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. initiated multiple rounds of shut-offs and plunged nearly...
Paradise Rebuilds but Is It Any Safer a Year After Wildfire?
PARADISE — There was "no way in hell" Victoria Sinclaire was rebuilding in Paradise. She'd thought she was going to die during the six hours it took her to escape the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. The town where she'd raised her family was nearly wiped out,...
NYC Utility Probes Electric Flash that Lit Sky in Eerie Blue
NEW YORK — Electric utility Con Edison was working Friday to figure out what caused a high-voltage equipment failure that unleashed an otherworldly flash of bright blue light in the night sky over New York City. The event Thursday caused power outages, briefly grounded flights at LaGuardia airport and filled...
The Longest Week: Carolinas Worn out by Florence
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Hurricane Florence is still wearing out the Carolinas, where residents have endured an agonizing week of violent winds, torrential rain, widespread flooding, power outages and death. Frustration and sheer exhaustion are building as thousands of people wait to go home seven days after the storm began battering...
Florence Flooding Spreads as Storm Heads Northeast
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Emergency workers delivered truckloads of food and water to Wilmington, a city of 120,000 people cut off from the rest of North Carolina by Florence's still-rising floodwaters, as helicopters and boat pulled people from homes swamped by swollen rivers. The deadly storm still had abundant rain and...