Blackouts hit 1.2 million

Posted at 10:43 p.m. PST Monday, March 19, 2001

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/local/center/blackout0320.htm

BY STEVE JOHNSON AND DION NISSENBAUM

Mercury News

California suffered its most prolonged and widespread power outages yet on Monday, as blackouts rolled through the Bay Area and for the first time into the southern part of the state, prompted in part by small generators who refused to switch on until they get paid. State officials said they may have to order more blackouts today, even though some plants that weren't operating Monday are expected back on line.

`Things are going to be extremely tight,'' said Jim Detmers, vice president of operations for the California Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state's power grid. Unless people conserve significant amounts of power today, ``we will be back into the rotating outages and that could start very early.''

About 1.2 million homes and businesses were affected by Monday's blackouts, far more than the two previous blackouts in which 670,000 lost electricity on Jan. 18 and 380,000 were without power on Jan. 17. The power disruptions ruined outings for tourists at Ghirardelli Square, sent movie patrons in Union City scrambling for the doors and short-circuited business presentations in Palo Alto.

In Southern California, drivers in Long Beach tried -- and failed -- to avoid fender benders at blacked-out intersections, and hairstylists at the Raffles L'Ermitage hotel in Beverly Hills worried about the interruption in their preparations for Sunday's Oscars.

Unseasonably warm weather -- 15 degrees above normal in San Jose -- helped send demand higher than expected as people turned on air conditioners and fans to keep cool. Temperatures are predicted to be slightly cooler today. The state's demand for power was 30,000 megawatts Monday -- enough for 30 million people. It's also 50 percent lower than the expected demand this summer when it turns hot.

``We have yet to see that big, what I would call the mother-of-all-heat-waves in California,'' said Patrick Dorinson, spokesman at the Independent System Operator. ``That could really send usage soaring, not only in California but throughout the West.''

As with the January blackouts, which were isolated to Northern California, the ones Monday stemmed largely from an unusual number of plants that were out of commission. About 12,000 megawatts were unavailable Monday because numerous plants were undergoing maintenance, most of it unscheduled.

But this time, an additional 2,000 to 3,000 megawatts were also out of service because a group of small wind and other alternative energy suppliers had shut down. In many cases, they had turned off their generating equipment as a result of a payment dispute with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison. Although those generators have contracts with the two utilities, PG&E and Edison are facing a severe cash crunch and have been unable to pay.

``I think the companies have been taken for granted,'' said V. John White, a lobbyist for the Renewable Power Coalition, which has been trying to get the Legislature to assist the small generators. ``The companies are beginning to feel like they have been chumps.''

While the state in recent weeks has taken over the job of buying electricity from large generators, no such arrangement has been worked out for these smaller power companies. ``They really are the only generators out there that are not getting paid,'' said Jan Smutny-Jones, executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Association. ``They've operated as long as they can without some relief.''

Frustration has grown among the alternative generators because legislative negotiations to assist them have faltered. A complex bill meant to ensure payment for the nearly 700 companies has been stalled in the state Senate and appears to have died amid questions about special perks included in the measure for some generators. As a result, some of the generators have formed a creditors committee -- a step that could force the utilities into bankruptcy.

For now, state leaders are focusing on a couple of options, the most palatable of which seems to be to urge the Public Utilities Commission to force the utilities to pay the small generators out of what cash the utilities have on hand.

Commission president Loretta Lynch said the agency is reviewing that idea and plans to take up the matter March 27. ``We're evaluating our legal options to see if we can keep the lights on,'' she said. Another possibility is to have the state pay the alternative generators for power. But given the nearly $4 billion that the state already has committed to electricity purchases, that may not sit well with many lawmakers, some of whom already are threatening to limit any further such spending.

Some lawmakers are taking the position that ``we can't continue to endlessly burn through the general fund surplus without a clear picture from the administration of where the end game is and how we are going to resolve this matter,'' said Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Santa Cruz.

Also complicating the power picture is the reduction in the number of companies participating in a program to lower power use by switching to backup power. That program used to save about 1,700 megawatts during emergencies, but saved only about 175 megawatts Monday because many firms have opted out of the program.

The blackouts, which began around 11:45 a.m., disrupted life for hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents and business operators. In San Jose, they hit the Regional Medical Center of San Jose, even though hospitals with more than 100 beds are generally exempt from rolling blackouts.

Luckily, patient care wasn't affected at Regional, which has about 200 beds and apparently was included in the outages by mistake, according to hospital spokeswoman Leslie Kelsay. She said Regional's backup generators were running seconds after the lights went out, and batteries in ventilators and other critical life-support machines covered the gap.

In Palo Alto, workers at Coupons.com, a company offering coupons online, were testing a new technology and their executive on the East Coast was going to give a test run for clients. The blackout disrupted the whole operation. `Clients in Canada are supposed to be testing this software,'' said Web developer Russell Gernaat. ``I can't set up the system for them . . . because we're shut down right now.''

Officials at iPeer Networks on San Antonio Road in south Palo Alto were in the middle of a meeting when they got hit. ``Suddenly, I couldn't see my hand,'' said Tim Brown, a business development employee. ``It was completely pitch black.'' The meeting eventually reconvened outside. ``We decided to enjoy the day,'' Brown said, picking up a Rice Krispie Square for a snack.

Because the outages started just before noon, many restaurant operators and their lunch-time customers had meals turn cold. At Roses, a Chinese restaurant in Union City, all cooking had to be curtailed. `They raised our gas and electric bill, and then we have these blackouts,'' complained owner Susanna Wong. ``Somebody has to be accountable . . . there has to be a solution.''

Some movie theaters in Union City shut down.

In San Francisco, one person was trapped in a third-floor elevator for 45 minutes, said Darren Wright with Millar Elevators. Tourists strolling Ghirardelli Square were left with some unpleasant memories. ``We came all the way from Texas for this ice cream,'' said Kevin Kremer, as his family waited for the Ghirardelli soda fountain to open its doors. ``If it's a half-hour it's fine. If it's longer we'll have to go somewhere else. We're hungry.''

The family waited an hour, finally leaving without their sundaes. ``Why Ghirardelli of all places?'' pouted Katie Kremer, 14, who wanted a banana split. Why lunch of all times, asked Jody Guerrein, who was vacationing from Florida. ``Why don't they do it at 3 in the afternoon? Or 4 a.m.?''

Mercury News Staff Writers Barbara Feder, Frank Sweeney, Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, John Woolfolk, Mark Gladstone, Truong Phuoc Khánh, Ann Marimow, Kim Vo, Sandra Gonzales, Lori Aratani, Dale Rodebaugh and Ken McLaughlin contributed to this report.

Contact Steve Johnson at sjohnson@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5043.

-- Swissrose (cellier3@mindspring.com), March 20, 2001

Answers

*****``Somebody has to be accountable . . . there has to be a solution.'' *****

I wonder how long it takes the citizens to figure out that THEY are the ones that must be accountable?????? They really don't have a clue, do they?

-- Taz (jhara2197@aol.com), March 20, 2001.