Ten million Californians risk going dark in massive blackout

As many as 10 million people across California may take turns being plunged into darkness on Monday evening as the state’s grid operator works to keep the region’s power system from collapsing under the strain of one of the worst heat waves in generations.

The outages, which were expected to hit as soon as 4 p.m. in California, would mark the third time in four days that the state’s utilities deliberately cut power to protect a grid that’s been pushed to the brink of failure as people blast their air conditioners and fans to keep cool. The state is facing an electricity shortfall on Monday of about 4.4 gigawatts, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom. That’s the equivalent of about four nuclear power plants.

“Let me just make this crystal clear: We failed to predict and plan these shortages — and that’s simply unacceptable,” said Newsom, who called for an investigation into why officials failed to anticipate the need for blackouts.