California lifts blackout order, urges conservation

FOLSOM, California (CNN) -- California officials Tuesday afternoon stopped the rolling blackouts they ordered earlier in the day, but warned further outages were still possible without conservation efforts.

California's Independent System Operator, which runs the state power grid, dropped back to its second-highest state of alert after nearly five hours of shortages that forced the state's three major private utilities to cut off electricity to hundreds of thousands of people.

"While it's still critical, it's dropped out of the extremely critical stage," California ISO spokesman Patrick Dorinson said. But he warned the state had not reached its evening peak, and the reprieve might not last long.

Similar blackouts Monday cut off power to up to 500,000 homes in both northern and southern California. They were the first since January, when more than 675,000 homes in northern California lost power for brief periods.

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"Right now, the real key is continued conservation as we go through the evening peak," Dorinson said. "Tomorrow looks a little better."

Earlier Tuesday, Dorinson said power officials' pleas for customers to cut back on their power usage have not been heeded, and he called on California consumers to shut off all unnecessary appliances.

"We have not seen the kind of conservation we saw back in January and December. And if we don't have conservation efforts, it just means that it's that much more megawatts that we're going to have to keep off the system," he said.

Dorinson said Tuesday's shortage eased when two power plants that had been off-line for most of the day came back into service. The state also managed to secure additional power from other states, he said.

Not only were those suppliers knocked out, but warmer-than-usual spring weather put greater demands on the system. Temperatures reached the 80s and low 90s in southern California on Monday, and were expected to continue in the 70s and 80s on Tuesday.

Tuesday's blackouts began about 9:20 a.m. PST (12:20 p.m. EST) as California utilities were told to cut power consumption by 500 megawatts.

The cutbacks affected customers of the three private utilities that are part of the ISO -- Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric. Intersections in Sacramento were jammed Monday as signal lights went out, office workers in Ventura had to climb through the roof of an elevator when it shut down, and businesses in San Francisco and Silicon Valley shut down.

Imports of energy were down from Monday, contributing to the problem, Dorinson said. Drought conditions in Pacific Northwest -- which provides California with some power -- are cutting the amount of electricity that can be generated by hydroelectric power, and small independent power generators with around 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity were also off line.

Dorinson refused to speculate about a reason, but some of the operators have said they cannot operate because they have not been paid by the electric utilities for power they generated in the past.

The second day of blackouts came as members of the Northwest Energy Caucus met with Vice President Dick Cheney on Capitol Hill to discuss rising energy prices in their region and frustration with California's appetite for their energy resources. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Washington , said he was disappointed the administration would not consider price caps to deal with rising energy prices.

Inslee said the region stood on "the brink of a recession" because of the energy prices.

"What is going on in the western states right now is an economic hoof-and-mouth disease," he said. "It's an emergency of national dimensions."

Imported electricity and the return of power plants that had been down for repairs eased California's power crunch after January's crisis. But California is anticipating a summer of power shortages and the possibility of rolling blackouts. Natural gas supplies are tight, water supplies are down and a heat wave could drive up the demand for power.

California's problems have been blamed on high power costs due to the state's 1996 law deregulating the industry. SoCal Edison and PG&E say they have lost $13 billion since last year because of high wholesale electricity costs. Energy wholesalers have been reluctant to provide power for fear of not being repaid.

Gov. Gray Davis' administration has committed $2.7 billion -- about $45 million a day -- for power purchases, which the state says will be repaid via an estimated $10 billion bond issue for cheaper, long-term power contracts.

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The California ISO
PG&E Corporation
SoCal Edison
  • Deregulation - What this means to you - Electricity Market Issues
California Power Exchange
System Conditions - The California ISO
California Public Utilities Commission
California Utilities Emergency Association
Foundation For Taxpayer & Consumer Rights

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