LOS ANGELES _ With an extreme heat wave continuing across California, officials are warning of the possibility of more rolling blackouts as state officials struggle to secure additional electricity amid the worse power crisis in nearly 20 years.
On Monday, officials had warned of blackouts affecting as many as 3 million people, but officials ended up canceling the warning, saying improved weather conditions and conservation efforts reduced demand on the power grid.
"We are grateful to families and businesses across the state that answered the call to reduce electricity use during a crucial time on the grid," Steve Berberich, the president of the California Independent System Operator, said in a statement.
"This heat storm is not over, and we still expect exceedingly hot temperatures (Tuesday) and Wednesday. With continued help from California residents in conserving energy, much like (Monday), we can reduce the risk of power outages."
Officials now hope conservation will continue.
"We were ready, and we're glad the weather and energy supply situation improved so Cal-ISO did not have to call for rotating outages," said Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Paul Moreno. "We appreciated our customers big and small who answered the call and conserved energy in our service area and across the state. We will need customers to conserve again."
Officials have said a power shortage remains _ and more rolling blackouts are still possible as the heat wave continues through Thursday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday called the power crisis "unacceptable" and pledged a full investigation into the cause of the shortage.
"We've always maintained that, a golden oldie, you can't control the weather, but you can prepare for the weather events," he said. "And let me just make this crystal clear: We failed to predict and plan (for) these shortages, and that's simply unacceptable."
He framed the shortage as a consequence of the state's transition from polluting gas plants to cleaner sources of energy and said the high demand placed on the grid because of the record heat over the last few days has exposed "gaps in terms of that reliability."
"We cannot sacrifice reliability as we move forward in this transition," he said. "And we're going to be much more aggressive in focusing our efforts and our intention in making sure that is the case."
Cal-ISO, the state's power grid operator, blamed the Public Utilities Commission for the shortage. Officials described a "perfect storm" of conditions that caused demand to exceed available supply: scorching temperatures in California and across the Western U.S., diminished output from renewable sources and fossil-fueled power plants affected by the weather, and in some cases, plants going offline unexpectedly when electricity was needed most.
But Berberich, Cal-ISO's president, said the state could have been prepared if only the utilities commission had ordered companies to line up sufficient power supplies.
Asked about the criticism, PUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said the agency is "working with our sister agencies to better understand why this occurred."
Meanwhile, communities across California hit daily record high temperatures Monday _ with more broiling heat on the way. Lancaster hit 110 degrees, breaking a daily record of 109 set in 1950, and both Palmdale and Paso Robles reached 111 degrees, breaking records set in 1934 and 1992, respectively, according to the National Weather Service.
The extreme heat and dry lightning have also sparked numerous fires across the state.
Firefighters worked Monday to battle several dozen fires in Butte County.
The largest, the Potters fire, is burning north of Oroville and was at least 600 acres as of about 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Cal Fire-Butte County Fire Department. The blaze is 10% contained.
The River fire _ sparked by lightning in Monterey County _ has burned more than 4,000 acres and destroyed several homes.
The Holser fire near Lake Piru in Ventura County burned more than 1,100 acres Monday, prompting some evacuations.
