Cities Feel the Heat of a Summer Energy Crisis

Ventura County cities are fast at work making plans for a summer of electricity headaches and million-dollar cost increases.

Thousand Oaks will exhort residents to reduce water usage to curb power costs at its water treatment plant. Oxnard is looking into sharing power with a private company. Ventura is thinking about raising taxes.

All are bracing for a summer of problems that could affect everything from drinking water to traffic lights--and energy rates that are expected to go through the roof.

“This is just like what we were doing for Y2K, except this is for real,” Thousand Oaks Deputy City Manager Jim Friedl said.

And predictably, summer heat will exacerbate the state’s energy crisis as air conditioners everywhere start humming, and rolling blackouts--of about an hour--begin.

Cities are posting conservation tips on their Web sites, holding city and public meetings, and working on studies to deal with the summer ahead.

Thousand Oaks has hosted a brainstorming session--and is convening a task force--to study ways to reduce a city energy bill that could jump from $4 million to as much as $6 million, Friedl said.

The city can afford the hike, Friedl said, but it probably means no new programs or staff members for Thousand Oaks in the foreseeable future.

The city will eliminate air conditioning at City Hall on weekends, and its citizens will be barraged with information, from how to drive without traffic lights during a blackout to advisories against taking elevators during Stage 3 alerts, when reserves of power statewide are dangerously low.

Because the city’s waste-water treatment plant is probably Thousand Oaks’ biggest energy sapper, officials hope residents will reduce water use to cut down on pumping charges. The plant may change some of its processes to take place during off-peak hours.

But there are limits.

“We’ve had people say, ‘Hey, let’s have City Hall open from 4 a.m. to noon,” he said. “But, I don’t think the public would stand for it.”

In Ojai, Oxnard, Ventura and Simi Valley, city leaders are working with consultants to find ways to conserve electricity and to determine whether there are ways to put those cities in another rate bracket that will allow them to pay less.

Oxnard expects to see its $2.5-million annual energy bill jump by as much as 30%, and is in preliminary talks about taking on a private partner to generate electricity locally, said analyst Jim Scala, who is spearheading the city’s efforts.

In Oxnard, unlike in Thousand Oaks, traffic signals have backup generators that will keep red lights flashing.

Ojai typically pays about $100,000 annually in electric bills. City Manager Dan Singer estimates those costs will increase to at least $135,000. Recommendations from a city study will probably include swapping incandescent light bulbs for more energy-efficient ones, and raising fees 20% to 40% for groups that use lighted playing fields during summer months, Singer said.

As for rolling blackouts, Ojai officials probably will dodge the bullet, because City Hall is located across the street from the Sheriff’s Department substation, which is exempt from blackouts.

Simi Valley expects its rates to jump about 50% to $3 million, Assistant City Manager Laura Magelnicki said. She said that many conservation efforts--from energy-efficient lighting to changing timers on air conditioning--already are in place.

“There may be some inconvenience. Not every computer is going to work,” she said. “But, we’ll still be able to function pretty seamlessly.”

In Camarillo, glitzy decorative lights installed as part of the city’s ongoing downtown renovation have been shut off. And the city’s storage trailers are stocked with barricades and portable stop signs in the event that stoplights go out, City Manager Jerry Bankston said.

He said a recent meeting attracted more than 150 people to discuss the energy crisis’ effect on Camarillo. “It won’t be bad from the standpoint of riots in the streets,” Bankston said. “But it will be a summer that will tax everyone’s patience.”

The city spends more than $1 million annually on electricity and is expecting a 12% rate hike in June. Bankston said officials do not expect to raise utility rates or impose an additional tax on residents.

In Ventura, however, Public Works Director Ron Calkins said residents could notice a rate hike in their sewer and water bill next year if the energy shortage lingers.

He said Ventura spends about $2.6 million annually on electricity, and the city expects a 30% increase.

“We’re heading for a summer like we have not experienced before in terms of power problems,” Calkins said. “We’re going to have to come up with extra money.”

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Times staff writers Timothy Hughes and Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.