Drastic Move Averts Rolling Blackouts State turns off water pumps in nick of time, issues dire warning

Eric Brazil and David Lazarus, Chronicle Staff Writers Tuesday, January 16, 2001 ©2001 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/16/MN116061.DTL

A pre-dawn decision to declare a Stage 3 alert and turn off the gigantic electric pumps that power the State Water Project narrowly averted statewide rolling electrical blackouts today.

If 600 megawatts from the water project pumps had not been fed into the power grid, the state would have had a "negative operating reserve" and blackouts, said Kellan Fluckiger, chief operating officer of the Independent Systems Operator, which manages the grid.

The alert prompted people around the Bar Area to save electricity, from a 6, 000 horsepower generator at San Francisco International Airport to personal coffee makers in Walnut Creek city offices.

The ISO declares a Stage 3 when the state's power reserves dip below 1 1/2 percent.

That declaration puts all electric customers -- not just those with interruptible service -- on notice that their power may be cut off without notice and that they should take immediate steps to stop nonessential electricity use.

Fluckiger said he expected the Stage 3 alert to be lifted this afternoon as more electricity becomes available.

It was the declaration of Stage 3 that enabled the ISO to access reserve power via the drastic step of shutting down the water project pumps.

Even as the ISO stepped up its efforts to arrange alternative power sources to meet tonight's anticipated peak demand, Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison, announced that it wold default on $596 million in outstanding bills because it has run out of cash.

Edison's announcement marked the first time that one of California's leading utilities has defaulted on a payment and indicates that Edison is now perilously close to bankruptcy.

State power officials are pleading with customers to cut back on all non- essential electrical uses.

Throughout the Bay Area, public and private agencies appeared to be responding to that exhortation. For example:

-- San Francisco turned down the lights in City Hall, and department heads were admonished to minimize electric use. Responding to the State 3 alert, the city also opened its joint emergency services headquarters on Turk Street.

-- In Walnut Creek, city employees were told not to use space heaters and individual coffee pots and were asked to avoid using the city hall elevator. Thermostats in all city-operated buildings have been turned down to 68 degrees.

And every other street light along busy Ygnacio Valley Boulevard has been turned off.

-- Macy's in downtown San Francisco waited until just before opening time --

10 a.m. -- before turning on its escalator and doused many of its accent lights. Nordstrom turned off its copiers and garbage compactor and reduced the lighting in employee areas.

-- San Francisco International Airport turned off a 6,000 horsepower air conditioner. "The building will tend to heat up," spokesman Ron Wilson said, but "hopefully, it won't become uncomfortable."

-- Lights were turned off in offices at the Clark Kerr Campus at the University of California in Berkeley, and workers were sharing printers and walking through darkened hallways at Sonoma State University. At Mount Diablo High School in Concord, students were admonished to stay in classrooms should the lights go out.

-- At Kids Kollege, a preschool and child development center on Lawton Street in San Francisco, teachers turned the power crisis into a lesson. "We have been telling the kids about what it means, because most of them aren't familiar with the concept of a blackout," said head teacher Anita Suri. "We have been showing them what a candle is and what a flashlight is."

Fluckiger said the state has 10,600 megawatts of generating capacity out of service today -- not as much as the 15,000 megawatts last Thursday, when a severe storm and plant maintenance cut California's power generation by one third -- but still "a very high level."

He also noted that lower than usual rain and snowfall have contributed to less hydroelectric power generation and that the state is unable to import as much power as it would like from the Pacific Northwest, which is having its own power problems because of dry weather.

The financial condition of the state's utilities is a continuing headache for power officials, because suppliers don't know if they can cover their costs and get paid, Fluckiger said.

If the utilities were not in rocky financial condition, "I believe that we would be in better shape" with respect to power supply, Fluckiger said.

"But even if that happened, the lack of water and the lack of construction of necessary infrastructure would still present a very difficult problem," he said.

Talks now under way in Washington between state officials, utilities and power generators may ease the financial on PG&E and Edison, Fluckiger said.

In the wake of Edison's announcement, Moody's Investors Service downgraded its credit and debt ratings to junk status, making it virtually impossible for the utility to borrow money from financial institutions.

Paul Klein, an Edison spokesman, declined to comment on the latest developments affecting the company.

PG&E also faces a cash crunch and has warned that it too will run out of funds within days.

Gov. Gray Davis has said that the state will try to sign long-term contracts with the electricity wholesalers to buy power and sell it to utilities, on the theory that the state can negotiate better prices.

Chronicle staff writers Tanya Schevitz, Erin Halissey, Steve Rubenstein, Marshall Wilson and Chronicle wire services contributed to this story. / E-mail Eric Brazil at ebrazil@sfchronicle.com and David Lazarus at dlazarus@sfchronicle.com.

©2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page A1

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 16, 2001