Californ Power demand is high, supply lowia

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Friday, August 4, 2000 Power demand is high, supply low Officials stress the need for cooperation in conserving energy.

By Dan Lee The Press-Enterprise FONTANA

With temperatures continuing to sizzle and the demand for electricity stretching power reserves to their limits, utilities officials renewed their call Thursday for consumers to conserve energy and stave off outages. (related story)

Southern California Edison spokesman Steven Conroy said there is a shortage in electrical reserves because construction of new power plants in California has not kept pace with the electrical demands of a growing population and booming economy, including the dot-com industry.

"The long-term solution is that more power plants need to be built and brought on line," Conroy said at a news conference at Edison's Fontana center. "The short-term solution is for all consumers to conserve. Conservation is an absolute must on a hot day."

Electricity has been in short supply this week.

The California Independent System Operator, a nonprofit agency that runs 75 percent of the state's electrical grid, issued a Stage 2 alert for the fourth day in a row Thursday.

A Stage 2 alert is declared when power reserves in the state fall below 5 percent. The alert was called after a Northern California generator had a mechanical failure, causing the loss of 400 megawatts of power.

Unlike the previous three days, however, the Independent System Operator did not immediately activate emergency programs in which some customers have voluntarily agreed to have power interrupted in exchange for lower electrical rates.

If power reserves drop to 1.5 percent, the Independent System Operator would declare a Stage 3 alert and order rolling power blackouts that could affect every community, Conroy said.

Vista Metals Corp. has felt the effects of the power crisis. Based in the county area near Fontana, the company has a contract with Edison to interrupt its power during electricity shortages in exchange for lower rates.

The company was forced to shut down for six hours each day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, because of the power shortage, company President Andrew Primack said.

"It's extremely costly and extremely disruptive," he said. "It cost us tens of thousands of dollars, if not approaching hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Primack blamed the state deregulation of the electrical industry that began in 1996 for the power problems.

"I don't think a lot of thought was given to circumstances such as we are experiencing now," he said. "(The previous system) worked pretty well. I don't know what inspired deregulation in the first place."

Primack is not alone. Critics denounced deregulation at a California Public Utilities Commission meeting in San Francisco on Thursday as a human and fiscal disaster.

The commission unanimously approved a $100 million rebate to ratepayers in San Diego, who have been the hardest hit by the power crisis.

San Diego Gas Electric was the first utility to deregulate fully. Although deregulation was expected to reduce customer bills, SDGE customers actually pay more than twice what Inland Empire residents pay, because of limited power supplies, increased demand and higher prices.

Rates for Edison's 4.3 million customers will remain frozen at the 1998 level for at least the next two years as the utility makes the transition to deregulation.

At Cal State San Bernardino, students, staff and faculty have also endured power reductions. Like Vista Metals, the university has an agreement with Edison to reduce power usage in exchange for lower electrical rates.

Dave DeMauro, the school's vice president of administration and finance, said officials decided to make the agreement several years ago because there had been only one power interruption per year on average previously.

The move saved the university about $250,000 annually during a time of severe budget cuts, he said.

But with the electricity shortages this year, Edison has interrupted power to the school four times, including for several hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, DeMauro said.

"We found most employees were able to grin and bear it and stay through the end of the work day," he said.

On Thursday, President Clinton ordered federal agencies in California to reduce electrical use during the crisis. The federal government accounts for 2 percent of total electricity use in California, according to the White House.

Residential customers can take a number of steps to save energy, according to Edison, including the following:

7 setting air conditioners at 78 degrees

7 using fans instead of air conditioners

7 using drapes and shades to reduce direct sunlight

7 turning off appliances during the afternoons

7 turning off lights and air conditioning in unoccupied rooms.

Further more information on conservation, see the Edison Web site at www.sce.com

http://www.inlandempireonline.com/news/stories/080400/power.shtml



-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 04, 2000

Answers

Friday, August 4, 2000 Power savers want out When Edison turns off their air conditioners, some rethink their participation in the energy conservation program.

By Rich Saskal The Press-Enterprise

About a decade ago Leota Dalton of Hemet signed up for a Southern California Edison program that promised discounted electric bills in return for the right to occasionally interrupt her air conditioning. (related story)

That was before she had a stroke and developed a heart condition.

When the woman's caregiver checked in on her this week, she found a house that was swelteringly hot and Dalton, 87, who was feeling ill.

"She damn near died," said caregiver Katherine Firman, who said she and her daughter needed to work hard to cool Dalton on the 100-degree- plus day.

"We had her feet in cool water for hours," she said. "We just went back and forth walking and wringing out the towels."

Dalton is one of 125,000 Edison residential customers on the company's air conditioner cycling program, including about 65,000 in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. About 18,000 customers are in the company's San Jacinto Valley region.

Edison installed a device on the compressors of the customers' air conditioners that turns the units off on a radio signal.

The signal comes when the California Independent System Operator declares a Stage 2 power supply shortage, after electricity reserves drop below 5 percent of the system's capacity, Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said.

Last year, it happened once, he said. Some years it never happens. It has happened eight times this year and Thursday marked the fourth consecutive day.

Normally, Alexander said, only a portion of those cycling customers have their air conditioners shut off at any given time. But the state's power supplies were so tight this week that all 125,000 residential cycling customers were cut off at once, marking the first time that has happened, he said.

Alexander credited the residential cycling program, along with commercial customers with a similar interruptible power program, for preventing a Stage 3 emergency and rolling blackouts.

He estimated the residential cycling program saves 250 megawatts of power -- about 1.3 percent of Edison's overall 19,000 megawatt capacity. It is enough to make a difference on a day like Wednesday, when the company was on the brink of starting to roll blackouts.

Nonetheless, this week's air-conditioning cuts have brought a lot of complaints -- and not just from people who have changed their minds about the program.

Sharon Sandstrom of Hemet said Edison cut air conditioning to the tenants in a condominium she owns -- even though they are not part of the cycling program.

"The day before yesterday they cycled them for six hours in that terrible, terrible heat," said Sandstrom, who paid a contractor to come out and disconnect the cycling device.

A former tenant was on the program, and Edison assured her there would be no problem with leaving the device on the unit, she said.

This summer's heat waves and power problems have caused many cycling participants to reconsider the program. So far, 6,000 customers have asked to be released from the agreement.

The cycling program started in 1983, but stopped accepting new customers in 1996, when the state had a 20 percent power reserve, Alexander said.

Now, power supplies are likely to remain tight until new power plants come on line beginning in fall 2001.

To help get by, Edison asked the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to revive the cycling program. The PUC approved the request Thursday.

"We might be able to enlist the help of enough additional residents and businesses to achieve another 50 megawatts (savings)," Alexander said, "though we recognize it will be a very hard sell."

Rich Saskal can be contacted by e-mail at rsaskal@pe.com or by phone at (909)487-5249.

http://www.inlandempireonline.com/news/stories/080400/cycle.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 04, 2000.


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