Heat Taxes Power for a Second Day
Hundreds of businesses around California were asked to turn off the power Tuesday as a second day of sizzling heat in the West prompted electricity grid officials to declare a moderate statewide power emergency.
The California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s long-distance electricity transmission system, called a Stage 2 power emergency Tuesday afternoon and ordered the three big investor-owned utilities to cut electricity to some customers that had signed up for interruptible power in exchange for lower rates.
In the Cal-ISO three-step monitoring system, a Stage 2 emergency means the state’s power reserves have fallen below 5%. The most severe emergency is a Stage 3, when reserves fall below 1.5% statewide and utilities are ordered to institute rolling blackouts. California has never endured a Stage 3, although local grid problems in the Bay Area on June 14 forced PG&E; Corp.’s Pacific Gas & Electric to launch the state’s first planned blackouts since World War II.
“We’re issuing a call to action, a call that everyone needs to take seriously,” said Pam Bass, senior vice president for customer service at Southern California Edison, the utility arm of Rosemead-based Edison International.
Edison, which operates California’s largest interruptible-power program at 2,500 megawatts, reduced its electrical load by nearly 650 megawatts. Edison’s Stage 2 reduction affected 271 large commercial customers in Southern California, 419 agricultural water pump users and 126,189 residential and commercial air-conditioner customers--all of whom suffered up to six hours without service as participants in the program.
San Francisco-based PG&E; cut all 500 megawatts in its interruptible program involving nearly 220 commercial customers. San Diego Gas & Electric, a unit of Sempra Energy, cut the entire 40 megawatts in its interruptible program involving 53 commercial customers.
Cal-ISO warned in May that California could run short of power if this summer was a hot one, because demand for electricity has grown but new power plants will not begin operating until 2001 at the earliest.
Tuesday’s power emergency was exacerbated by extreme heat in other parts of the West, limiting California’s power imports.
