Flex Alert Issued For Rancho Santa Margarita

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — State authorities issued a Flex Alert Wednesday calling for Rancho Santa Margarita residents to voluntarily cut power on Thursday to reduce strain on California's power grid as a record-breaking heatwave grips the region.

Voluntarily turning off power and turning up the thermostat can make enough of a difference to stave off rolling blackouts, according to the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state's power grid.

The Flex Alert will be in effect from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday. A Flex Alert is a call for voluntary energy conservation, essentially a plea for residents across the state to cut their power use to reduce overall demand and lower the risk of outages. If Flex Alerts don't work, authorities sometimes will resort to rolling blackouts, deliberately turning off power to certain communities for periods of time.

Around midday Wednesday, Cal-ISO projected that it would have adequate energy supplies through Thursday, although it urged residents "to remain vigilant" in case demand suddenly increased and threatened the availability of power reserves.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Cal-ISO announced plans for the Flex Alert.

According to Cal-ISO, residents are urged to take steps prior to the alert taking effect, such as pre-cooling their homes, using major appliances and closing window coverings to preserve cool air indoors. Once the alert takes effect, residents should set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using major appliances and turn off all unnecessary lights.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.