LAKE COUNTY – If it seems like Daylight Savings Time has arrived faster this year, that's because it has. In fact, it's three weeks earlier this year.

Daylight Savings Time will go into effect Sunday, when clocks are set ahead one hour at 2 a.m.

Clocks will “fall back” to Standard Time on Sunday, Nov. 4.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) reports that the National Energy Policy Act of 2005 created the extended Daylight Saving Time beginning this year.

The legislation moved the time change from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, the CEC noted. Daylight Savings also ends one week later, on the first Sunday in November rather than the last Sunday in October.

One of the potential benefits of extending Daylight Savings is an energy savings. CEC estimates that there is a savings in electricity used during the peak of the day. The "peak" electricity demand is estimated to decline by approximately 3 percent for the remainder of March, according to the CEC.

Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman David Eisenhauer said the company isn't sure yet of what energy savings that it might realize. Calculations and studies are still under way, Eisenhauer said this week.

The CEC encourages people to use the Daylight Savings time change to remember to change the batteries in home smoke detectors, and to replace an incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light to save energy.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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