Relevant story: back in grad school, I did a few experiments in the (old) MIT wind tunnel, now torn down.

Before starting up the fans, the guy running the control booth picked up the phone and had a short conversation, roughly

"Hi, this is [name] at the wind tunnel; can we turn it on?"

[someone on the other end replies]

"Great, thanks."

I asked who he was calling, and he explained that he had to check with the power company before powering it on. This was mid-winter, so grid demand was low; apparently during the summer (when everyone has ACs on), the start-up load could cause brownouts!