Power-Bill Bailout Unlikely, State Says

State officials on Tuesday dimmed the hopes of some local governments for help in paying bills related to California’s power crisis.

The city of Huntington Beach--which faces stiff bills--declared a local state of emergency Monday night, hoping in part to set the stage for a state bailout.

And other jurisdictions in Northern California are tracking added expenses from beefing up police patrols in blackout areas, in case they can pass the bills on to state or federal officials.

But Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gray Davis, said there were no plans under discussion to have the state pick up such costs.

“I am not aware of a specific proposal of that nature before the governor at this point,” McLean said.

Davis declared a state of emergency last week that let the state Department of Water Resources buy power from wholesalers to pass along to the state’s cash-strapped utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric.

But that proclamation differed from more traditional declarations that free up state resources for relief efforts during natural disasters. Even then, little financial aid is made available. Those aid packages usually fall under federal states of emergency, said Eric Lamoureux, spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Services.

For most local governments in Southern California, added expenses so far have been minimal, beyond the expected rate hikes themselves. But in Northern California, the costs have run higher.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, for instance, has stepped up patrol efforts during blackouts in the rural Central Valley, although no cost estimate was available.

“Every time that we’re in a Stage 3 emergency, we have a helicopter and fixed-wing plane ready to patrol areas with blackouts, and we’re putting deputies on overtime for the duration of blackouts,” sheriff’s spokesman Kelly Huston said. “As you can imagine, the more blackouts we have the more expensive it becomes for us.”

In Huntington Beach, the pinch is being felt more sharply than in other cities. City officials there entered into a contract with Southern California Edison in 1996 that gave it reduced rates in return for agreeing to have the city’s power cut off during power emergencies.

The city saved about $360,000 in the lower rates, but has paid $500,000 in penalties for refusing to shut down when requested. About $335,000 in penalties have been levied since the beginning of the year, city spokesman Rich Barnard said.

It was unclear whether any other municipalities had agreed to such contracts, which usually involve private businesses (The Times has such a contract).

Barnard said the city had planned to end the rate agreement in November but was barred from doing so by the state Public Utilities Commission. The commission, fearing widespread flight from such plans, pushed the opt-out date for all such customers to March 31.

City officials also can use the emergency declaration to bypass normal procedures in requesting help from county or state agencies, and shift generators or other supplies between departments, Barnard said.