What is the difference between a “group” and a “block”?
Although they are often used interchangeably in the media, these terms have distinct meanings as used by SCE to refer to the curtailment of normal electrical service. “Group” applies to Stage 3 emergencies when clusters of customers are subject to controlled rotating outages. Groups are circuits that have been arranged together into clusters of 50 to 100 megawatts of electricity. When a Stage 3 emergency is declared, the amount of power needed by the California ISO determines the number of rotating outage groups that must be curtailed. Rotating outage groups are designated with a letter and three numbers, for example, A001. “Block” is used in relation to SCE’s interruptible rate options for large commercial and industrial customers. Customers on these rates receive lower energy and demand charges in return for being interrupted at SCE’s request. Interruptible customers are arranged into blocks representing approximately 200 megawatts of electricity.
Although they are often used interchangeably in the media, these terms have distinct meanings as used by SCE to refer to the curtailment of normal electrical service. “Group” applies to Stage 3 emergencies when clusters of customers are subject to controlled rotating outages. Groups are circuits that have been arranged together into clusters of 50 to 100 megawatts of electricity. When a Stage 3 emergency is declared, the amount of power needed by the California ISO determines the number of rotating outage groups that must be curtailed. Rotating outage groups are designated with a letter and three numbers, for example, A001. “Block” is used in relation to SCE’s interruptible rate options for large commercial and industrial customers. Customers on these rates receive lower energy and demand charges in return for being interrupted at SCE’s request. Interruptible customers are arranged into blocks representing approximately 200 megawatts of electricity. When a Stage 2 emergency is declared
