I do not believe T.H.E.Y. were planning that, but they will take whatever they can get.

The power outages make no sense. We have less people, using less electricity than last year and... serious scheduled black outs.

We've known we need more electricity decades ago... has anything been done about it?

So, it appears the plan is to keep electricity in the minds of people as a scarce commodity.
And force people into scarcity mindset, and buckle under whatever the govern-cement rolls out.

Bitcoin is actually creating electricity where it was not before.
By being the first user in areas that are difficult to build out in.
Bitcoin miners are also using excess electricity balancing power loads.

So, i can understand T.H.E.Y. using the rhetoric you listed, but it is all false.
I believe, and hope, that truth will win out.

And one of my first posts was how to make clean electricity, especially suited for California.