Californians don't have to be in the dark about rolling blackouts that are going to hit their homes or businesses. They can be tipped off, wirelessly.

The state, with help from Deloitte Consulting, is offering free wireless alerts to interested parties when a blackout is ordered because of high electricity demand, so they can curtail their power consumption.

Devices such as Web-enabled cell phones, pagers, and PDAs will keep people in the know.

"People just want to do their part, and when we hit a Stage 2 or Stage 3 alert, every watt counts," says Arun Baheti, California's director of E-government. Residents can sign up for the service at my.ca.gov.