Electricity prices for Californians are spiking, but so is the danger of blackouts—both planned and unplanned. Exceptional drought forecasts for this summer prompted PG&E to warn earlier this month that it might need to implement more rolling blackouts. The utility added, however, that they would likely last less than last year’s. Then, last week, the California Independent System Operator issued a so-called flex alert, which effectively means it asked people to use less electricity between 5 pm and 10 pm because of heightened energy consumption during that time of day. Last year, RealClear Energy’s Robert Bryce wrote this week, electricity prices in California jumped by 7.5 percent. This was the highest price hike for electricity across the States and seven times the average for the country. This means that as of end-2020, Californians were paying 70 percent more for electricity than people living in other states. At the same […]