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California ISO urges electricity conservation ahead of heat wave

FILE - This Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, file photo shows power lines in Houston. When an unusually heavy winter storm blanketed much of Texas with snow, knocking out electricity to millions of homes and leaving many struggling to find clean water, one sector of the population was particularly vulnerable: inmates in Houston at the state's largest county jail. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FOLSOM, Calif. (KRON) – The California Independent System Operator (ISO) is urging residents to try and conserve electricity next week as a heat will put stressed conditions on the state’s power grid.

While no outages or power disruptions are anticipated, triple-digit heat is forecasted to hit parts of the Bay Area which leads to extra electricity use by residents who may be cranking their air conditioning.


The ISO declared a grid Restricted Maintenance Operation (RMO) for noon to 10 p.m. from Wednesday, June 16, through Friday, June 18, which alerts market participants that all available resources are needed and to defer scheduled maintenance on generators or transmission lines if possible.

In the past, Californians responding to calls for conservation has significantly reduced
stress on the grid and avoided further emergency actions, including the need to rely on
reserve power resources or rotating outages, according to the agency.

To review tips on conserving energy and sign up for notifications, visit FlexAlert.org.
For the most up-to-date information on emergencies, you can follow twitter account @California_ISO. More updates on system conditions bulletins will also be available
on the news page of the California ISO website.