NATURAL PERSPECTIVES -- Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray

Our current electricity crisis is ridiculous.

Using formulas meaningful only to them, the power companies are

turning off the electricity with no realistic warning, plunging the

populace back into the pre-Edison era. This random, surprise loss of

power is not only irritating and inconvenient, it’s downright dangerous.

When the power goes out, traffic lights cease functioning, causing

hazardous situations at intersections. Elevators stop, stranding hapless

occupants. Power-driven home medical equipment ceases to work,

endangering the lives of the sick and elderly. Computers go down, copiers

don’t work, and production lines grind to a halt. All with no warning.

This is totally unacceptable.

This is 2001, not 1901. Businesses can’t function without power.

Society has become dependent on electricity, not just for convenience and

entertainment, but for essential functioning. The power companies seem to

have caught on to this fact and are holding us hostage. We don’t see a

crisis in any other state. Power is available, and we have a right to

expect a steady supply of it.

However, this doesn’t mean that we have a right to waste electricity.

Generating power requires sacrifices on the part of society. Rivers get

dammed, hillsides get covered with ugly windmills, nuclear waste is

generated, and fossil fuels get burned. Power generation causes a variety

of types of pollution. For this reason, we are strongly in favor of

conserving energy wherever possible.

In our home, we consciously conserve gas, electricity and water. We

consume about 500 to 600 kilowatts of power a month, which translates

into an average monthly electrical bill of $67. We believe in

conservation, but we don’t want to be plunged back into the 1800s. We’re

no wussies. We can make do at home with no power for an hour or two. We

can do without the CD player, the TV, the VCR, our computers and even the

lights for a few hours. We have camping equipment and are earthquake

prepared, so we can get by quite nicely on our own without the utility

companies for a day or two.

The point is this: we shouldn’t have to. We’re responsible consumers

of gas and electricity, but we don’t want to live like our

great-grandparents. We like to listen to music while we work on the

computers in our home offices. We like to watch television. We like the

convenience of a dishwasher, microwave oven, and a washer and dryer. We

depend on our home computers, printers and fax machines to make our

living.

However, the biggest impact of this energy fiasco is not on our home

lives. A far greater impact is on society as a whole, on businesses, and

the social services that we depend on. They really can’t get by without a

reliable source of power.

We believe that consumers should pay for the reasonable cost of

electricity. We’re willing and able to pay more for electricity if that’s

what it takes to keep the lights on. But these surprise power outages are

unacceptable. Reliability is essential. For society to lose power just

because some deregulated corporate entity is holding us hostage for a

rate increase is outrageous.

Deregulation was a colossal mistake. What we’re doing now isn’t

working. It’s time for the legislature to reverse their decision. We had

a system that functioned well for many decades. Let’s go back to it. *

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 vicleipzig@aol.comf7 .