Rolling blackout refers to an intentionally-engineered electrical power outage, caused by insufficient available resources to meet prevailing demand for electricity. For information about accidental blackouts that are not intentionally engineered, see power outage. Power Outage is an episode of The WB drama series, Charmed. ... Power Outage is an episode of The WB drama series, Charmed. ...

In many African countries – e.g. Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and South Africa – a combination of aging electricity generation infrastructure, and the inadequacy of the supply of electricity to the ever expanding demand, has made rolling blackouts a staple of daily life. Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ...

Other developing countries, particularly Asian countries like Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan have daily blackouts of up to 8 hours even in the capital and major cities. Rural areas receive power for as little as an hour a day. This can be attributed, apart from a shortage of fuel, to old equipment and a high incidence of power theft. Indeed, Beijing power distribution companies reported that 40% of their power was being stolen during summer 2006. Practically no effort is being made to curb theft as corruption in law enforcement agencies makes it exceedingly easy to escape punishment and fines. Another cause is the free electricity (among other subsidies) being provided to farmers in China.

United States

Texas

In April of 2006, parts of Texas experienced rolling blackouts due to excessive air conditioner use because of unexpectedly high temperatures. The longest power outage lasted for a period of five hours, affecting areas in the Middle to the South of Texas. The Texas power system runs on a system similar to the one in California.

California

Though the term did not enter popular use in the U.S. until the California electricity crisis of the early 2000s, such outages had occurred previously, almost always triggered by unusually hot temperatures during the summer, which cause a surge in demand due to heavy use of air conditioning. Rolling blackouts were again imposed in late August 2005 in Southern California due to the loss of a key transmission line; the transmission line shut itself off because of a faulty sensor. The California electricity crisis (also known as the Western Energy Crisis) of 2000 and 2001 followed a failed partial-deregulation, in 1996, of the electricity market in the state. ... The 2000s are the current decade, spanning from 2000 to 2009. ... Note: in the broadest sense, air conditioning can refer to any form of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the urban complex straddling the United States-Mexico border, see Bajalta California. ...

Most of California is divided into 14 power grids, each containing approximately 7% of electricity customers in the state, creating a total of 98%. The remaining 2% are placed on a separate grid, where users such as hospitals and police stations are exempt from ever having their power deliberately cut off. Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... For the record label, see Hospital Records. ... A typical suburban police station in the United States (this one is in San Bruno, California). ...

In a Stage 1 emergency only a general call for voluntary conservation is issued, while a Stage 2 emergency results in power being temporarily cut off to certain large users, primarily industrial concerns, who have agreed to this arrangement in exchange for lower rates. When a Stage 3 power emergency is declared, electricity to one of the grids is shut off for a fixed period of time, which can range from 60 minutes to 2½ hours. If after this period of time the Stage 3 emergency still exists, power is restored to this grid but then the next grid in the sequence is blacked out, and so on, until the situation is stabilized — the blackout thus "rolls" from one grid to the next.

In California, each customer's electric bill includes the number of the power grid (from 1 to 14) that customer belongs to; this gives customers at least some advance notice of when their electricity might be turned off in the event of a Stage 3 emergency. The grids are set up in such a manner as to ensure that a large percentage of customers in the same neighborhood would not be blacked out concurrently, which could invite looting and other related problems. Normal electricity customers can fall within the areas reserved for emergency use (if they are near a hospital or other critical infrastructure), in which case their electricity bill will indicate a power grid of 99 and they will not be affected by rolling blackouts. Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Looting (which derives via the Hindi lut from Sanskrit lung, to rob), sacking, plundering, or pillaging is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe or riot, such as during war,[1] natural disaster,[2] or rioting. ...

Elsewhere

In many East Coast states (such as New York State and New Jersey), "brownouts" rather than rolling blackouts are implemented during power emergencies: In this scenario, instead of the power being cut off altogether to a certain percentage of customers, the voltage is reduced by a certain percentage to all customers — the resulting dimming of electric lights being the origin of the term "brownout." Brownouts can cause significant damage to unprotected electronic equipment, but usually have no effect (other than reduced performance) on incandescent lights or some types of motors. Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... Power Outage is an episode of The WB drama series, Charmed. ... International safety symbol Caution, risk of electric shock (ISO 3864), colloquially known as high voltage symbol. ...

Republic of Ireland

On several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s trade union strikes in Ireland's power utility, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) led to rolling blackouts. However, rolling blackouts have not occurred for this reason since 1991. For such eventualities, the ESB have a zone rota system in place. The country is divided into regions which in turn are subdivided into zones, referred to by the letter codes A, B, C, X, Y, and Z. During periods when blackouts may occur, advertisements are placed in the national newspapers informing customers which region and zone they are in, and at what times of the day they have a high, moderate or low risk of supply interruption. (Customers fortunate enough to live close to a hospital may find they are on a "priority line" and don't lose power at all). The authorities appeal to the public to conserve electricity (especially during hours of peak demand); however, if and when electricity demand exceeds available supply, supply is cut in some or all of the "high risk" zones. If there is still a shortfall once all the high risk zones have had power cut, then the "moderate risk" zones start experiencing power cuts. The level of risk in each zone changes every three hours moving from "Low" to "Moderate" to "High" and back to "Low". The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) (Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais in Irish), sometimes called ESB Ireland to differentiate it from US utilities, is responsible for generating and transmitting most of the electricity in the Republic of Ireland. ...

United Kingdom

The Three-Day Week of January to March 1974, introduced to limit electricity consumption, and thus conserve coal supplies which were severely reduced due to industrial action, meant that non-essential commercial users were only allowed to consume electricity for three days each week. Home electricity supplies were also limited in some areas. The Three-Day Week was one of several measures introduced in the United Kingdom by the Conservative Government 1970-1974 to conserve electricity, the production of which was severely limited due to industrial action by coal miners. ...