Daylight savings time will jump forward three weeks earlier this year, with clocks in most of the United States being set ahead one hour at 2 a.m. March 11.
The change was included by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Epact) as an energy saving measure.
Clocks will revert back to standard time Nov. 4.
While definitive data still needs to be collected to determine how much, if any, energy is saved during this year's extended daylight saving time, the California Energy Commission 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 three percent for the remainder of March, according to a white paper released by the CEC.
The change has the potential to interfere with some automated electronic instrumentation and security systems.
Apple Computer, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have all released technical support Web pages regarding the change.
