Irvine to Study Its Power

Hoping to avoid rolling blackouts and high electricity costs like those of last year’s energy crisis, Irvine officials said Tuesday they will consider forming a municipal utility to serve the city’s 143,000 residents and businesses.

During the peak of the power crunch, Irvine was sometimes in the dark several times a week.

“For a while, it was happening every couple of days, if not daily,” Mayor Larry Agran said. “The blackouts would be brief, but the uncertainty of it all created havoc. If we were to have our own utility, presumably through contracts or other partnership arrangements, we would have an adequate, affordable source of electricity so we would avoid that happening again.”

The City Council voted unanimously to hire a consultant who would study the options and costs of getting into the electricity business.

Anaheim, Burbank, Pasadena and Colton are among 38 California cities that manage their own electricity supply. Another 18 besides Irvine are considering doing so, Irvine City Manager Allison Hart said.

The biggest advantage is local control, said Jerry Jordan, executive director of the California Municipal Utilities Assn. Cities no longer have to rely on regional utilities such as Southern California Edison for their power and may shop for the lowest rates or create partnerships with other cities to build or manage power plants.

But setting up an independent utility can cost millions and would be complicated. John Phillips, a member of the California Energy Coalition, told the council that Irvine “needs to continue to investigate ways that residents can best be served, and I don’t believe a municipal utility is the best way to do that. I can’t think of a more difficult endeavor.”

The city would have to buy into an existing power plant or join with other cities to build a new one.