Southern California Blackout Being Investigated

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) have launched a joint inquiry into the Sept. 8 power outage that left more than 1 million customers in Southern California, and parts of Arizona
and Northern Baja Mexico, without power.

FERC and NERC will coordinate with the Department of Energy and other federal agencies, the California ISO, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, California and Arizona state regulators and the companies involved to monitor the situation, according to a statement issued by FERC.

The agency says the inquiry will focus on causes of the outages.

‘This inquiry is an effective way for us to protect consumers and ensure the reliability of the bulk power system,’ FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said in a statement.

FERC is charged with oversight of reliability of the nation’s bulk power system. FERC has designated NERC as the organization that develops and enforces mandatory reliability standards.