Utility Officials Repeat Power Warning in Oregon Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Publication date: 2000-12-13

Dec. 13--"One day at a time" is the guiding principle for regional utility officials who decided Monday to keep asking consumers to conserve electricity despite updated weather forecasts that call for not-so-cold days ahead. In a daily morning conference call, a group of utility and state and federal officials agreed to maintain a Stage 2 warning that asks citizens to take voluntary energy-saving measures. The warning first came Friday, when an arctic front was expected to drop local temperatures below 20 degrees.

While temperatures haven't dipped that low, "we want to err on the side of caution," said Marty Douglass, spokesman for the Eugene Water & Electric Board, which participates in the daily briefing. "If people can stick with us just a little while longer, we're optimistic we can get off this thing pretty quick."

The forecast calls for more rain in the southern Willamette Valley, with highs in the 40s and lows in the 30s, said Andy Bryant, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. Lows could dip to the high 20s on Wednesday before climbing through the week, with a westerly flow of marine air expected to bring warmer, wetter weather by this weekend, he said.

But other parts of the state and region are expecting colder weather -- it snowed in Salem on Monday afternoon -- and that plays into the decision-making. "This is a regional power grid, and we haven't warmed up enough (throughout the region)," Douglass said.

Dulcy Mahar, Bonneville Power Administration spokeswoman, cautioned that temperatures are still below normal -- just not so far below normal as previously expected. "It's still going to be cold out there until we get some more rain and cloud cover," she said.

The cold weather has slowed but not stymied the ability of EWEB and other Northwest utilities to sell excess power to California utilities. California covets about 3,500 megawatts but expects to buy only about 400 megawatts from outside the state in coming days, officials there said Monday.

Douglass said EWEB sells to California utilities only during nonpeak periods, such as the middle of the day. The money it earns "is a hedge for when we need to go out to the market and buy more expensive power for our customers," he said.

For example, EWEB agreed to buy additional power based on forecasts that temperatures on Sunday and Monday might drop to 19 degrees, Douglass said.

When those temperatures didn't materialize, the utility sold off the "excess" purchased power to California for use during off-peak hours, he said.

To assure enough power, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased releases Sunday from its eight hydropower dams on the Willamette River, including at Lookout Point and Hill Creek reservoirs in east Lane County. The flow was increased by roughly 25 percent, to about 2,000 cubic feet per second at Jasper near Lowell, said Cindy Henricksen, the corps' reservoir control supervisor.

But agency officials also are concerned about a dry fall that has produced little snowpack and low reservoir levels.

So the corps returned to its previous flow levels Monday afternoon before once again increasing the tap to accommodate peak use this morning.

"Even saving water for 12 hours is worth it," said Dick Lamster, natural resource manager at Lookout Point.

The Stage 2 warning also directs utilities to take measures to curtail power to some industrial customers. The region's power shortage got some help over the weekend when officials at the Kaiser Aluminum smelter near Spokane announced a 10-month shutdown. The closure frees up 190 megawatts of power per month that the BPA has agreed to buy back.

As for homeowners, no conservation measure is too small -- from caulked windows to wrapped water heaters, said the BPA's Mahar.

"Energy supplies in the Northwest don't meet the demand," she said. "When you're on the edge, every small contribution helps."

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 14, 2000