The California heat wave will cause rolling blackouts for over 3.3 million homes in the state on Monday, the state system's operator said.

California power companies are overwhelmed by the demand for power in the state, and have decided to have rolling blackouts for about an hour at a time each.

This weekend, rolling blackouts have affected 220,000 PG&E customers, over 130,000 from Southern California Edison and over 58,000 from Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas & Electric.

The state's Independent System Operator (ISO) said it is looking at an electrical supply shortage of 4,400 megawatts in the state, Reuters said in a report. Cal ISO is in charge of about 80% of the state's power grid through power companies.

The announcement of rolling blackouts come as California falls in the grips of a historic heat wave. It is currently struggling to meet the demand for electricity.

The highest temperature to be recorded on Earth, a scorching 130 degrees, was just felt at Death Valley on Sunday. It is no wonder that the state is trying to lessen the chances of a complete power shortage.

"We have a perfect storm going on here," said Steve Berberich, CEO of Cal ISO, in a CNN report.

Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the ISO for having the rolling blackouts with little notice. He wants an investigation on the blackouts.

Newsom wrote a letter to Cal ISO, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission. It read: "These blackouts, which occurred without warning or enough time for preparation, are unacceptable and unbefitting of the nation's largest and most innovative state."

He also signed an emergency proclamation Monday to free up some energy capacity in the state, CBS Los Angeles reported. He warned that customers that rolling blackouts were "very likely" to take place over the next 72 hours.

Last Rolling Blackout was in 2001

According to Deadline, rolling blackouts hasn't happened in California since 2001.

During that blackout, several energy companies were accused of manipulating the power market so that electricity rates would spike. Electricity supplies then ran artificially short.

The energy shortages in the state led the Cal ISO to issue a Stage Three emergency.

Biggest Power Outage Yet

Officials warned that this coming power outage will likely be the largest one to ever be seen in the state.

Mercury News estimated that there were about 1.5 million people who were affected in the 2001 power outages. With that number, the current 3.3 million people that were hit by blackouts is at least twice as large.

There was a heavy strain on the power grid, which led to a call to conserve as much energy customers can. This was part of Cal ISO's "flex alert" that will last at least until Wednesday.

As LADWP is locally-owned and runs its own plants, it is not likely to be impacted by the outages. It may even help supply 900 megawatts of power to the state grid Tuesday.

But home supplied by LADWP are still urged to take measures in conserving energy during the 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. flex alert.

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