The state of California had to turn off the electricity to almost two million homes and businesses. The state ran out of power.

No one knew when the power would be turned off. People got trapped between floors in an elevator. Firefighters had to save them. These blackouts moved around the San Francisco area. Turning off traffic lights could cause accidents.

Rolling power outages shut down sections of communities across much of northern California, an hour and a half at a time.

People found out it is hard to work without power. Computers don’t work. Locked doors don’t open from a distance.

There has been a power crisis for the past two months. The amount of power isn’t enough to keep up with demand. Debt-ridden utilities couldn't get suppliers to sell them electricity on credit.

Thursday's crisis was blamed, in part, on a lack of water for hydropower in the Pacific Northwest.
Now California is trying to legislate a solution with a dozen emergency bills making their way through the state legislature. The state would buy power at long term low rates, and sell it at cost to utilities.

Not all Californians are sure that the power crisis is real. They think that power companies want to get more money.

Political leaders are sure they'll have a legislative fix by February. Still the crisis won't really be over until new power plants are working.

Additional Notes:

A blackout means that certain customers have no power for a certain length of time. The blackouts have been caused because there isn’t enough power to meet the demands. January 27th was the 12th straight day that many Californians were under a Stage 3 power alert. There was a brief respite Thursday when it was called off for a few hours. Rolling blackouts have hit the central and northern regions of the state twice after the California Independent System Operator ordered utilities to start them.

A Stage 3 Alert means that reserve power on the California electricity grid has dropped to 1.5 percent or less.

The California legislature is taking steps to temporarily solve this problem and to stop the necessity of blackouts.

Related Stories:

• CNN Special Report – Power Crisis: Many different articles provide information about the power crisis
  

Other Stories in the series:

• #1 Deregulation of Power Sends Prices Skyward: Learning Resources story from August 5, 2000
  
  
• #2 Energy Regulation Debate: Learning Resources story from January 3, 2001
  
  
• #3 Power Surplus City : Learning Resources story from January 11, 2001

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