Power Officials Sweat Out a Low-Level Emergency as Temperatures Stay High

When Happy Bo Bappy heard that power was short in Southern California on Thursday, he dutifully made all the usual adjustments. He switched from his super baggy long pants to his extra baggy short pants, added a Gatorade-heavy “Fill the Bottle” game to his routine and went light on the greasepaint. “You’ve got to do everything you can to conserve energy, even if it’s only your own,’ said the Palmdale-based clown. “A day like today really separates the professional clowns from the amateurs. Some of these guys put on all this water-based makeup, and within five minutes their faces are dripping away.”

Across greater Los Angeles, professionals and jokers alike took power-saving precautions on another day so hot that state power officials were forced to declare a Stage 1 emergency for at least the 10th time--a record pace for the early summer.

With the Stage 1 warning, Southern California Edison issues a familiar set of recommendations to Southern Californians: Draw your drapes, turn off pool pumps and household appliances and set your thermostat at 78 degrees or higher. The power company tried its best to set a good example, turning off fluorescent overhead lights at its Rosemead offices.

The reason for the alert was obvious. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures reached 88 in downtown Los Angeles and straddled 100 inland, pressing air conditioners everywhere into tough service and pushing statewide power reserves below the standard of 7% for such emergencies.

But Edison officials said they were grateful to energy-conscious customers for not making the situation worse. The company narrowly avoided declaring a Stage 2 alert, in which about 1,500 businesses and 130,000 residences would accept voluntary power shutdowns in exchange for discounts on their bills.

“We think we’re seeing progress on conservation,” said Edison spokesman Steve Hansen, who had propped open his window to keep cool.

Still, many businesses said they have little flexibility in cutting back on air-conditioning.

At the American Hearing Aid Center of the South Bay, office manager Bobbie Cruce said parched customers and the center’s own hearing test machines require that things stay cool.

At In-the-Skin Tattoo and Piercing in Pasadena, the store’s staff isn’t allowed to touch the temperature gauge.

“Check it out: You’ve got to keep it very cold and comfortable,” said employee Brian Madison. “You’re putting something on your body, and that’s a strain and you don’t want anything going into funky shock. That’s why this place is always very cool.”

At his home office, Happy Bo Bappy managed to back off the air-conditioning. “Turning the thermostat up to 78 or 80 is nothing for me,” he said. Laundry is trickier. Sometimes a busy show schedule means he must send his costume through the washer in the middle of the day.

“I’m off tomorrow to do a show in California City in Kern County, where it’s even hotter than this,” the clown said. “Stay happy and cool.”