Your power might go off tonight due to rolling blackouts in California

UPDATE (8/17): The Associated Press reports that as many as 3.3 million homes in California could lose power on Monday as part of another, larger series of rolling blackouts. According to the report, California ISO is likely to to start ordering utility companies to shut off power on a rotating basis starting at 4pm.

Earlier in the day, Governor Gavin Newsom said that such controlled blackouts were “very likely to continue today, Tuesday and likely through Wednesday evening,” though at the same time the state was taking measures to increase its energy supply, saying “we’re not just going to accept that as fate.” Newsom issued an emergency order on Monday to help free up capacity, but also admitted that “We failed to predict and plan these shortages and that’s simply unacceptable. I am the governor, I am ultimately accountable and will ultimately take responsibility.”

UPDATE (8/14): California ISO has lifted the Stage 3 emergency, thereby allowing power to be restored.

Our original story from August 14 appears below. 

It’s hot—like triple-digit hot in parts of Los Angeles—and way more Californians are staying home right now than usual. So you probably won’t be surprised to hear that the state’s electrical grid is under strain right now. But you might be surprised to hear that your power might go off—on purpose.

Due to high heat and increased electricity demand, the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s electricity operations, declared a Stage 3 Electrical Emergency on Friday night (the first time since 2001 that such an emergency has been declared). As part of the declaration, they’ve asked local utilities to initiate rotating power outages across the state for the evening of August 14.

Basically, when the demand for electricity outpaces supply, ISO mandates that local utilities cut off power for short amounts of time to reduce the strain. So for as short as 15 minutes or as long as an hour, you may very likely temporarily lose power tonight—or you may have already and wondered why.

The rolling blackouts aren’t necessarily limited to any single city or utility company in the L.A. area. Southern California Edison, which provides power to various parts of the county outside of the City of Los Angeles, has said rotating outages are in progress, as has Pasadena Water and Power. But LADWP apparently won’t need to institute rotating outages, according to the L.A. Times, and the city’s outage map only shows isolated reports so far.

Earlier in the day, ISO issued a statewide Flex Alert. Under search an alert, Californians are asked to voluntarily limit major appliance use between 3 and 10pm, to turn off unneeded lights and to adjust the thermostat to 78 degrees or higher.