Never mind- "expert" on FNC now says L.A's power grid is designed to protect itself - so when something goes wrong somewhere, other parts of the grid will shut themselves off to prevent more problems./overloads... (hope I quoted that right)
Thats how the nyc electrial system is configured. All of our equipment is constantly being metered and whenever a discrepancy is detected the appropriate relays are activated causing circuit breakers to open as necessary so as to isolate any fault.