The Trump administration has declared a power grid emergency in 13 states — what that means for you

“This order will help ensure millions of American families and businesses across the Mid-Atlantic have access to affordable, reliable and secure electricity,” Wright said in a press release. “This administration remains committed to using every available tool to prevent blackouts.

The emergency is set to last from Oct.13-16.

Here’s what to know about the conditions that led to the emergency order — and what you should do while the emergency’s on.

Climate change and increased demand complicate autumn

This emergency order seeks to prevent blackouts in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. by using backup generators and delaying planned maintenance on existing generators.

The fall is generally a maintenance period for power grids, since weather is mild compared to summer and winter, and buildings aren’t using as much energy for climate control.

But the Mid-Atlantic is currently facing a record heatwave for October. This means that buildings are using significantly more energy than normal to keep cool, which risks overloading the power grid entirely.

The rapid growth of data centers — which require huge amounts of energy to function — might also play a part. PJM Interconnection, which oversees electricity in the Mid-Atlantic region, proposed requiring new data centers to pay for the additional electricity needed to run them — or be cut off during emergencies like this one.

That proposal was denied.

“PJM proposed… to address the growing electricity reliability challenge where electricity demand is increasing faster than new generation is coming online,” said a PJM spokesperson to Newsweek. “It is based on the concept that existing customers should not bear the consequences of that imbalance.”

Virginia, one of the states affected, is often called data center capital of the world. According to Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall, Loudoun, Virginia handles up to 70% of all internet traffic each day.