Anyone reading this probably knows that our American electrical grid is like a groaning, arthritic old man who just keeps on pushing through. We've had more than just this one article about massive grid failure.

It seems like we're seeing more and more power outages this summer for "no reason."

Last week there was a blackout in NYC.

Last week, New York City suffered a blackout in the heat of summer. Con Edison, the city's power provider said:

Con Edison said the blackout that plunged parts of Manhattan into darknessSaturday night was due to a substation's relay protection system that "did not operate as designed."

The utility company said the faulty system was at its West 65th Street substation.

"That system detects electrical faults and directs circuit breakers to isolate and de-energize those faults. The relay protection system is designed with redundancies to provide high levels of reliability," Con Edison said in a statement on Monday. "In this case, primary and backup relay systems did not isolate a faulted 13,000-volt distribution cable at West 64th Street and West End Avenue."

Con Edison said the blackout that plunged parts of Manhattan into darkness Saturday night was due to a substation's relay protection system that "did not operate as designed."

The utility company said the faulty system was at its West 65th Street substation.

"That system detects electrical faults and directs circuit breakers to isolate and de-energize those faults. The relay protection system is designed with redundancies to provide high levels of reliability," Con Edison said in a statement on Monday. "In this case, primary and backup relay systems did not isolate a faulted 13,000-volt distribution cable at West 64th Street and West End Avenue." (source)

Many news outlets noted the interesting fact that the blackout was on the anniversary of a much lengthier blackout in 1977.  Some Twitter users speculated that it could have something to do with the Epstein fustercluck.

Thousands were without power in Washington DC a couple of days ago.

PEPCO, DC's electric company, is trying to determine the cause of a power outage in Northeastern DC that left thousands in the dark on Monday. According to a company spokesperson, this outage, too, was an equipment failure.

And we've got PG&E just turning people's power off in California.