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A mistaken order by PG&E to shut down a power plant in the Central Valley may have contributed to the rolling blackouts that California experienced last month.
On August 15, instead of ordering a smaller energy plant to power up to full capacity, PG&E erroneously directed the 400-megawatt Panoche Energy Center in Fresno County to scale back. That took 255 megawatts of power off the grid just as demand was peaking during a heat wave and the state's power grid operators ordered rolling blackouts.
"The sort of level of incompetence that PG&E keeps delivering is really quite shocking," said Mindy Spatt with The Utility Reform Network or TURN. "Customers are so, so tired of PG&E’s mistakes. They just come at us year after year, fast and furious."
The organization is asking California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to investigate.
"We really do hope that there is a thorough, thorough investigation and PG&E is somehow sanctioned," said Spatt.