California faces more power shortages

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AP National

Calif. Faces More Power Shortages

by JENNIFER COLEMAN Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Transmission problems aggravated California's power crisis on Monday as the state continued its struggle to keep the lights on.

Stage 3 alerts -- the most severe and the prelude to rolling blackouts --remained in effect, marking the seventh straight day with electricity reserves near or below 1.5 percent.

The Independent System Operator was expecting to avoid blackouts like those that darkened thousands of businesses and homes for several hours last week. Credit was given to conservation and the return to service of several newly repaired plants in Southern California.

But the transfer of power between south and north was slowed when the three major conduits were jammed at a bottleneck consisting of just two 500,000-volt lines in central California.

''The ISO is caught in the middle, caught in a system not improved in three years,'' ISO spokesman Patrick Dorinson said.

Blackouts occurred briefly Sunday for as many as 75,000 customers in Northern California, but they were caused by a spike in power from Oregon, not from shortages.

Meanwhile, the state Legislature considered several potential solutions to the crisis, including one under which the state's two largest utilities --Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric -- would donate their hydroelectric plants to the state.

In exchange, the state would begin buying additional power needed for the state through long-term contracts and on the spot market, both of which have led to enormous debts for the utilities. The plan would make the state one of the largest owners of hydroelectric power in the nation.

Another plan, proposed by Assemblyman Fred Keeley, would put the state in the electricity business for up to five years, buying power at low rates and selling it directly to consumers. The Assembly has already approved it. I still needs approval in the state Senate and would have to be signed by the governor.

Keeley said his plan would buy time for the state's two largest utilities to restore their credit while lawmakers worked on long-term solutions to the state's botched deregulation laws.

Gov. Gray Davis is reviewing the ideas, but considers the hydroelectric plan more attractive, spokesman Steve Maviglio said.

Consumer groups on Monday gave Davis' office more than 5,000 signatures from consumers rejecting what they called a multibillion-dollar bailout for the utilities.

''We see the cancer spreading, if you will,'' said Graham Brownstein of The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based group.

PG&E and SoCal Edison have been on the verge of bankruptcy for weeks. They blame their more than $10 billion in losses on California's 1996 deregulation law, which bars them from passing skyrocketing wholesale power costs onto consumers.

The Legislature and governor last week allocated $400 million to buy power over the next several days because the utilities, whose credit ratings have been downgraded to junk bond status, can no longer find wholesalers willing sell them power on credit. State officials hope the plan will help avoid blackouts while lawmakers work on longer-term solutions.

The state's Department of Water Resources, the agency authorized to buy power under the emergency legislation, has spent $75 million since Wednesday, said Mike Sicilia, a spokesman for Davis' office. That includes about $18 million for Monday's power needs.

-- Swissrose (cellier@azstarnet.com), January 22, 2001


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