Power Shortage Not Real, Most Californians Say

Despite disruptive blackouts and record increases in their utility bills, most Californians remain unconvinced that the state suffers from a shortage of energy, a Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Instead, more than five out of six Californians believe power companies have manipulated the electricity market to boost their profits, the poll shows.

And although nearly all respondents agree that the state’s energy crisis is a serious problem, they express little faith that their leaders can solve it.

Nearly half of all Californians give Gov. Gray Davis low marks for his handling of the crisis, suggesting his efforts to stabilize power prices and lock up megawatts under long-term contracts have not wowed a wary public. In a February Times poll, by contrast, only 37% of Californians disapproved of the governor’s stewardship.

“Why didn’t he get on top of it sooner?” Lydia Salcido of La Puente, a counselor at a home for troubled girls, said in a follow-up interview. “If the henhouse door is open and you’re losing your chickens, you don’t wait until they’re all gone to fix the door.”

Californians are even less enamored with Washington’s performance, however. When asked which politician is more ably responding to the energy mess, Davis wins hands down over President Bush, enjoying almost four times as much support.

Spawned by the state’s failed experiment with deregulating its electricity market, the energy crisis has sucked billions out of the public treasury and dwarfed all other problems confronting California this year.

The poll’s findings suggest it is also fueling a simmering uneasiness among Californians about the state’s fiscal health. Though nearly two-thirds of those surveyed believe the state’s economy is doing well, that is down sharply from the 81% who expressed confidence in a January Times poll.

Respondents also predict gloomier times, with seven in 10 saying they believe a recession is likely in California in the next year. The energy crisis was most often cited as the likely culprit.

“There’s a definite softening of public confidence in the economy,” said Susan Pinkus, director of the Times Poll. “Part of that clearly is coming from people’s anxieties about energy.”

The Times Poll interviewed 1,541 Californians over four days beginning Saturday. It found that respondents are paying keen attention to the energy crisis, with 83% saying they closely follow news about the problem.

Apparently, they are troubled by what they see. More than six in 10 name the energy crisis--including high utility rates--as the No. 1 problem facing the state, overshadowing more traditional concerns such as education and crime.

And, in a bit of news sure to disappoint lawmakers and the governor, about half see no recent improvement in the situation.

“This electricity mess is out of hand, and all I see are people passing the blame around,” said Dorothy Head of Baldwin Hills. “It seems like things are just standing still.”

Regardless of such frustrations--and despite enduring skepticism about whether the shortage is real--nearly all Californians say they are taking steps to conserve energy.

Turning off lights was the most commonly cited conservation measure, one practiced by two out of three respondents. Four in 10 said they are using less heat or air-conditioning.

A smaller but substantial number--13%--say they have taken the expensive step of replacing old appliances with more efficient ones, purchases encouraged by rebates recently approved by the Legislature.

To help the state avoid summer blackouts, Davis has asked Californians to cut their energy use still further. Most respondents said they were willing to try.

Some are clearly motivated by the rising cost of energy, reflected for many Californians on June bills. More than half said such rate hikes are a financial burden, with those with household incomes under $20,000 feeling the greatest pinch.

“I’m putting my makeup on in the dark, I’m roasting my staff at the office--we’ve done everything we can and our bill is still three times what it used to be,” said Mary Ellen Bloomingdale, a real estate broker in El Cajon, near San Diego. “I’m having to dig up another $1,000 a month for utilities--month after month--and let me tell you, it’s difficult.”

As the pain of the crisis sinks in, Californians are growing more and more willing to point the finger--and few public officials, energy company executives or regulators are escaping blame.

Bloomingdale, for example, is convinced that power companies have manipulated the electricity market to enhance their bottom line, an opinion shared by 86% of Californians.

“There’s no question in my mind that all these repairs, all this shutting down of plants at the same time, is just a ploy to drive prices up,” Bloomingdale said. “To use the people’s need for energy in that way is just criminal.”

Among public officials, President Bush is on the hottest hot seat, with more than two-thirds saying his administration is doing too little to help the Golden State. Many respondents think they know the reason: Asked whether Bush would have been more helpful had he carried California in the presidential election, nearly half agreed.

“If it was his state--Texas--or Florida where his brother is [governor], I think he’d bend over backwards to help,” Salcido said. “But with California, he lost it pretty big and I feel like he holds a grudge.”

Pinkus said the public’s disappointment with Bush suggests that “Davis is winning the PR war.

“There has been a lot of talk about how Bush is thumbing his nose at California, and how he has too many ties to the energy industry,” she said. “That has really resonated with folks in California.”

That does not mean Davis is exempt from the public’s displeasure. Last month, the governor brought in two communications consultants to help with the energy crisis, and he has enlisted a flock of other experts to negotiate power contracts, beef up the electricity supply and advise him on the financial dilemmas facing the state.

Davis has shortened the approval period for new power plants, relaxed air emission controls at some heavily polluting facilities and successfully demanded that federal regulators impose caps on soaring wholesale electricity prices.

Nevertheless, support for Davis continues to erode. Only 44% of Californians now approve of his handling of the crisis, while 47% disapprove.

“I don’t see how anyone could blame him for the initial problem, but we can criticize him for what he’s done to fix it,” said Jane Callabresi, a tax consultant in the East Bay Area city of Livermore.

She is most offended by the governor’s push to lock up megawatts under long-term contracts. Supporters say the deals guarantee a stable energy supply in the future, but Callabresi said they commit the state to high prices, even as the cost of energy will fall as supplies increase.

According to the poll, 45% of Californians share her opposition to long-term contracts, while 39% approve of the strategy.

State lawmakers also receive poor marks for their handling of the crisis, with the public expressing disapproval by a margin of 47% to 30%--numbers that have changed little since February.

But the harshest sentiments--by far--were reserved for the utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, and energy regulators.

By a 65% to 18% ratio, Californians have a negative view of how the state Public Utilities Commission has managed the crisis. They also disapprove--by a slightly larger margin, 72% to 16%--of the job the utilities have done.

Despite that assessment, respondents believe--by a margin of 49% to 37%--that the business of providing power should remain a private enterprise, not one in government hands.

Deregulation, approved unanimously by the Legislature in 1996, was intended to cut electricity rates by injecting competition into the marketplace.

Relatively few companies, however, entered the market, giving each considerable influence over price--and leading to skyrocketing costs that have prompted PG&E; to file for bankruptcy, nearly forced Edison to do the same and forced the state to step in temporarily as an energy buyer.

The botched experiment has left almost two-thirds of Californians opposed to deregulation, the Times Poll found. Moreover, a solid majority favors price caps to prevent spikes in energy costs.

When it comes to solutions, Californians are strongly in favor of building new nonnuclear power plants--only about one in 10 respondents is opposed. A surprising six in 10 even said they would permit a plant to be built in their own community, defying the “not-in-my-backyard” mentality that often dooms such proposals.

Another surprising result: Californians are about evenly split over building new nuclear power plants. That’s a dramatic change from February, when respondents were solidly opposed to the idea, by a margin of 60% to 33%.

“California has been closing nuclear plants instead of building new ones and that’s how we’ve gotten into this crunch,” Callabresi said. “I know a lot of physicists and engineers, and they believe nuclear is the solution.”

Californians also are less worried about the easing of emission controls at heavily polluting plants this summer. In February, those surveyed were solidly opposed to the idea by more than 2 to 1. Now, however, only about half of Californians oppose the move, with 41% in favor.

*

The Times Poll margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

Jill Darling Richardson, associate director of the Times Poll, contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Manipulating the Market?

Agree or disagree: Independent power companies have manipulated the electricity market in California in order to make a higher profit.

*

Agree strongly: 74%

Agree but not strongly: 12%

Disagree but not strongly: 3%

Disagree strongly: 4%

Don’t know: 7%

*

Source: L.A. Times Poll