How Do Electric Grid Operators Warn Us About Extreme Heat?

9/7/23 UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) post by Tasnima Naoshin. Explains clearly the levels of alert the major U.S. RTOs (Regional Transmission Organizations, like ISO-NE) recognize in response to weather and other events, which stakeholders the RTOs notify, and whether and how some RTOs ask ratepayers to briefly and voluntarily reduce demand during peaks. ISO-NE does not yet alert the public, so we rely on three ad hoc sources: Green Energy Consumer Alliance’s Shave the Peak program, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and the recently-formed Signal channel Peak Shavers United (email Nathan Philips for details on PSU).