But he warned the state had not reached its evening peak, and the reprieve might not last long. Similar blackouts Monday cut off power to up to 500,000 homes in both northern and southern California. They were the first since January, when more than 675,000 homes in northern California lost power for brief periods. The U.S. will soon unveil a plan to fix the problem of energy shortages. For some Californians, dinner was interrupted by a blackout.
Tomorrow looks a little better.
Earlier Tuesday, Dorinson said power officials' pleas for customers to cut back on their power usage have not been heeded, and he called on California consumers to shut off all unnecessary appliances. We have not seen the kind of conservation we saw back in January and December. Dorinson said Tuesday's shortage eased when two power plants that had been off-line for most of the day came back into service. The state also managed to secure additional power from other states, he said. Temperatures reached the 80s and low 90s in southern California on Monday, and were expected to continue in the 70s and 80s on Tuesday.