Rolling blackouts expected for summer

Stefanie Frith

COSTA MESA -- Rolling blackouts are almost certain to occur this

summer in Orange County, State Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) told

a crowd of about 80 people at Orange Coast College Saturday afternoon.

Campbell’s speech was part of a community forum organized in response

to the dozens of calls, e-mails and letters Campbell’s office has been

receiving about California’s energy crisis.

Panelists included Judy Woolen, public affairs director for The Gas

Company; Julie Puente, executive vice president of public affairs for the

Orange County Business Council; and Kid Scherer, regional manager of

Southern California Edison.

“I wanted to do this because we are getting dozens of e-mails a day

asking questions from ‘Why has my gas bill gone up,’ to very

sophisticated questions concerning the crisis,” Campbell said after the

discussion, which included more than an hour of audience questions. “I

want people to take away with them that we need more generators and a

free market because the direction we are moving in is not good.”

Despite signs more than a year ago that California was heading into a

possible energy crisis, nothing was done. The issue came to the public’s

attention in January when Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and

Electric announced that they might declare bankruptcy. Since then,

electricity prices have risen by 9% and parts of Northern California have

endured rolling blackouts.

Even though Gov. Gray Davis recently announced a plan to buy

transmission lines from Southern California Edison, regional manager

Scherer said that residents should still expect problems later this year.

“If it’s a mild summer and people aren’t using their air conditioners

so much, then we may eke out of it,” she said. “But if it’s a hot summer,

blackouts ranging from one hour to one-and-a-half hours will occur.”

Many audience members wanted to know why the crisis ocurred in the

first place and what could have been done to prevent it. Others showed

concern about possible price increases.

“What people need are incentives to keep them from using [too much

energy],” Roland Boucher, an Irvine resident, said. “Raise the prices.

Yet we have the technology to lower those prices and we have power plants

in Huntington Beach that aren’t being used. I think there are things to

be done that haven’t been talked about yet.”

A few people in the audience suggested solutions for the crisis --

pointing out that the emergency seems to be manufactured from a political

standpoint, rather than an actual lack of available energy.

“It’s a legal, not a technical problem,” said Mark Shirilau, president

and CEO of Aloha Systems in Irvine. “More power plants may solve the

blackouts, but not the problem in the long run. I don’t want to see 20

more generating plants built so that we can have a competitive market.”

Business council spokeswoman Puente said she is worried about how

summer blackouts may affect local commerce. Most of her concern is

targeted toward the businesses that signed interruptable service

contracts years ago. Those contracts say that during blackouts and times

of energy crises, the businesses must shut down for an undetermined

amount of time.

“When these businesses signed the contracts, it was rare that once a

year they had to shut down,” Puente said. “But recently, they have been

asked to shut down for up to 18 hours for two days in a row. This summer,

it could become an intolerable situation. We are asking that if a

business must be shut down, they are given adequate time so they can

power up generators if possible.”

There are things that the public can do to help though, Scherer said.

Individuals should make plans for their family, business or school in

case of blackouts. She said they should also write to the governor, and

keep up to date with energy crisis information.

For tips on everything from turning off lights to buying a new

refrigerator, Scherer advised audience members to visit

https://www.sce.com.

Campbell said that he is considering another community forum in a few

months, especially if the threat of summer blackouts continues.

“With the possible blackouts, we may need to do this again. Things

like this help me learn what’s going on too,” he said.