Davis’ Energy Plan

* Re Gov. Gray Davis’ suggestion that we citizens need to make a 7% cut in our electrical usage: A few days ago I listed all the uses of electricity in our home in Westchester, room by room. Where possible we changed lightbulbs to smaller wattage and turned off some security lights and accent lights. I found that this would save about 16% of our electrical usage, enough to ease the crisis. Please try this for the duration of the crisis.

ROBERT BLOCK

Los Angeles

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Many, many cities in California lay a utility users tax on their citizens ranging from 6% to 10%. Let’s hope the state lawmakers remember to prohibit these taxes upon any temporary surcharge or rate hike they will fashion to bail out the local energy companies. My city imposes 10%. With no exemption in the upcoming state action, the actual price to the homeowners and businesses will be 6% to 10% higher than reported in the press.

LORNE E. O’BRIEN

Palos Verdes Estates

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I will believe my fellow Californians are serious about addressing our current electricity production “crisis” when I have access to grants, loan guarantees and tax credits equal to half the cost of installing photovoltaic cells on my roof, a windmill in my backyard and a fuel cell in my garage. Until then, I consider all this fuss nothing more than business as usual.

JOHN SHAFFER DIBELKA

San Dimas

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When the deregulation of electricity production was first proposed, we were told that there would be dozens of small producers springing up, using advanced jet engine technology but burning natural gas, to produce large amounts of electricity cheaply. Whatever happened to these?

RICHARD HORNBY

Pasadena

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Bring back the clothesline! It would save huge amounts of electricity and gas and would be excellent exercise, as well, if we hung our laundry out to dry rather than use clothes dryers. Some communities ban the use of clotheslines (ours does), but those regulations could be waived during this crisis.

DOROTHY MELVILLE

San Juan Capistrano

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The people of California are not being told the truth about our electricity problems. The problem is not deregulation. The problem is that our population has doubled in the last 10 to 15 years but no new power plants have been allowed to be built, thanks to the environmentalists.

It is about time that the Legislature and the governor not be scared by environmentalists.

ALLAN L. GRIFFITH

Glendale

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I would be willing to shut off my TV for seven minutes each hour if the TV commercials would take off seven minutes of their advertising time each hour. This would also let me get to sleep earlier and thus shut all the lights in my home off about 28 minutes earlier every night.

JIM McHARG

Thousand Oaks

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If you think the electrical brownout is bad, wait until you suffer a water dry-out when there is insufficient drinkable water available for the burgeoning Southern California population.

ROBERT BUTLER

Buena Park