California Power Squeeze In 7th Day

Stage One Emergency As Power Reserves Dip Below 7% Cold Weather, Plant Shutdowns Contribute To Shortage Customers Asked To Sacrifice On Christmas Lights

FOLSOM, Ca., Dec. 10, 2000 CBS The power demands from California's holiday displays equal that of 1 million homes. (AP) California's power emergency carried over into a seventh straight day Sunday.

The agency that manages electric power for California's largest utilities declared a minimal, or "stage one" emergency as power reserves dipped below seven percent by late morning.

Power reserves dropped below five percent every day over the last week. On Thursday, reserves dipped below one and a-half percent, but blackouts were averted.

The power crunch has been blamed on cold weather in the Northwest, the shutdown of some generating plants for repairs or other reasons and the effects of utility deregulation in California.

A spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator is urging residents to conserve electricity. Customers are asked to wait until after 7 p.m. to turn on their Christmas lights.

Power shortage or not, Lori Bledsoe doesn't like the idea of restrictions on the Christmas holiday display at her Valencia home.

The glittering 16-foot Ferris wheel, light-strung candy canes, the tree festooned in green bulbs — for five years they've been a tradition.

"It takes my husband two weeks to put it up," she said.

California's unprecedented winter electricity shortage has been dimming some of the holiday cheer around the state as homeowners were urged delay turning on their outdoor holiday lights.

The twinkling lights that festoon trees and rooftops around the state consume as much additional power as 1 million homes, said Lorie O'Donley, a spokeswoman for the CISO, which controls the power grid for much of the western United States.

"We don't want to spoil Christmas, but here we are," said Jim Detmers, CISO's managing director of operations.

He said holiday usage is up in the past few years because of the popularity of "icicle lights," curtains of tiny bulbs that drape homes which, in years past, might have made do with a single string of colored lights.

The phased-in deregulation of California's $20 billion electrical power industry was supposed to lower prices by increasing competition. But demand for electricity has outstripped supply, in part because of a growing population and a booming high-tech economy.

Bledsoe said she would hate to shut down her family's display, which draws up to 50 cars a night to the suburban enclave north of Los Angeles.

"I would just sob, because I have small children," she said. "My husband and they made all these things together."

Even the larger public light displays have not been spared.

Gov. Gray Davis presided over the state's official Christmas tree lighting on Tuesday, then switched off the lights to save power. And at Sea World in San Diego, the 2,000 holiday lights on its 320-foot tall tower remained off for a third night Friday.

"We pulled the plug," spokesman Bob Tucker said. "It sends a very positive message to the community about being extra energy conscious."

In Long Beach, plans were going ahead for a Sunday light show to inaugurate a 65-foot-tall decorative lighthouse in the works since 1997, although how long the lights will remain on is an open question.

"This is one day at a time, maybe an hour at a time," city spokeswoman Kathy Parsons said. "We're hopeful that we'll be able to shine."

In Alameda, Monte Boscovich and Peter Romualdez were cutting back on the operating hours, but not the size of their Christmas display. Their cottage was decorated with more than 4,000 lights, an 8-foot tree covered in light-up snowflakes and a dancing Santa and Mrs. Claus.

To compensate for some of the power usage, they changed their indoor lights to lower-wattage bulbs.

"Every night the same kids come by with their parents to look," Boscovich said of the display. After all, he added, "It's once a year. That's what Christmas is all about."

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 10, 2000

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Is this what Christmas is all about?

-- Phil Maley (maley@cnw.com), December 11, 2000.