Campbell demands power details from governor

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) has asked Gov.

Gray Davis to disclose the details of the state’s power sales into the

open market.

Campbell made the demand in a Wednesday letter to Thomas Hannigan, the

director of the Department of Water Resources. He asked Hannigan to

submit the information to his office by today.

Campbell said he suspects Davis of unloading power at bargain-basement

prices after buying it at much steeper costs.

“This info clearly won’t make him look good, so that’s why he doesn’t

want to release it,” Campbell said. “I think the people need to know.”

Campbell was one of a group of Republican lawmakers who, earlier this

year, successfully demanded the release of the contracts Davis signed

with out-of-state generators for long- and short-term power deals.

On June 27, a San Diego Superior Court judge ordered Davis to make

public all of the information related to the state’s power purchases,

including long-term contracts, “spot” or open market purchases and 7,200

hours of audio tapes of negotiations with generators.

Campbell said the ruling should cover the selling of power.

Water Resources spokesman Oscar Hidalgo defended the sales as a

necessity.

Many of the state’s contracts for power are known as “pay or take” --

if the power can’t be used, it must either be sold or it will be lost.

Since Davis entered into the long-term contracts, the power crisis has

subsided. There have been no rolling blackouts since May 8.

Cooler weather, more plants pumping power into the system and an

overall demand 10% lower than last year have all contributed to

significant drops in the price of a megawatt-hour on the open market.

The state needed to buy long-term power earlier in the year, Hidalgo

said, because the cooler weather wasn’t anticipated.

“We’re in emergency mode,” Hidalgo said. “You get the best price you

can at the time.”

As a result of the court order, the state has begun releasing details

of the contracts, but not revenues from the spot sales, Campbell said.

On July 9, the state released a report covering purchases for the

first five months of the year. During that time, the state spent $5.9

billion for power.

“They have signed up for more long-term contracts than there is demand

for power,” Campbell said. “Now they’re going into the market to sell

it.”