/ Source: The Associated Press
The Stage One power emergency declared in Southern California has been canceled, nearly four hours earlier than anticipated.
Stage One is the lowest level of a three-tier system. It’s called when authorities believe they’re within two hours of a power shortage. It does not require any interruption of service.
The alert was called at 1:40 p.m. Pacific, as the region baked in 90-degree temperatures. In addition, a number of generators were off-line for maintenance.
The state’s grid operators had been concerned about peak usage hours in the afternoon and scheduled the alert to last until 9 p.m. But temperatures cooled off rapidly and the alert was canceled.
Customers had already been asked to begin conserving before the alert was called.