Rolling blackouts are a controlled
power outage system put in place by
power companies in times of desperate need to
ration power. For instance this is happening right now (early 2001) in
California. They shut off certain sections (cities and sections of cities) for certain amounts of time in order to conserve power for the rest of the grid. Many towns experience outages from between one and five hours currently, depending on the direness of the
situation at hand.
The main reason for
California's need to resort to such a devastating rationing system is that the state's economy grew faster than the power grid could keep up. Many server farms and computer heavy businesses add to this lack of power. This is devastating to any
company.
Motorola estimates it loses about a
million dollars a
minute. That can add up over a serveral hour
blackout. For many other companies on the verge, this is the crushing blow. California is the 7th largest
economy in the world; this is the last thing it needs.
The current
power situation is affecting energy bills everywhere in the
West, from a mild 16% energy
price hike in
Seattle, to a proposed 300% price jump in
Arizona (who feeds off of the same grid
California does). This situation can easily be called an energy crisis. Rolling blackouts are one way the
government and the now privatized
energy companies hold on with
as little as possible.