That option isn't available to many farmers. Shawn Stevenson of the Fresno County Farm Bureau said he must absorb costs that he can't pass on because farmers don't set the market prices for their goods. The orders are backed up 10 to 12 weeks. Other people are converting their well gear heads to natural gas or diesel. Business owners Friday said that they would like a little more notice before the blackouts happen.
Notification comes only minutes before the lights go out.
Assembly Member Mike Briggs, R-Fresno, took it a step further. He said the state must manage blackouts, not allow them to just happen. He said businesses could be assigned days when they know blackouts would be coming. With the western United States so interconnected on a huge electricity grid, many states would go dark if just one state's grid went out of balance by trying to satisfy too much demand with too little electricity. If you don't quickly shed the load, you black out the 10 Western states.