Calif. Remains Under Power Alert

Monday, January 29th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SACRAMENTO (AP) â€” Electricity demand was closely monitored as Californians powered up their televisions to watch the Super Bowl, but the state managed to avoid rolling blackouts.

Sunday was the 13th straight day California faced a Stage 3 alert, meaning electricity reserves were dangerously low and that blackouts were possible.

The Independent System Operator, manager of most of the state's power grid, had urged Californians to watch the Super Bowl in groups to help conserve electricity â€” something many had planned to do anyway.

As the week began, state legislators searched for ways to deal with the financial problems of the state's two largest utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison.

There was little sign of help coming from Washington.

President Bush planned to convene top advisers Monday to discuss the power crisis. However, the president's economic adviser, Larry Lindsey, warned Sunday that California should expect no more help from the White House.

``It's not that we don't want to give them the help. If we could send thunderbolts into the electric grid to run electricity, we would do it. We can't,'' he said on CBS' ``Face the Nation.''

Blackouts lasting about two hours hit nearly 2 million homes and businesses in northern and central California on Jan. 17 and 18. Last Sunday, a power surge in Oregon caused a 20-minute outage affecting about 75,000 Northern California customers.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the federal government will ``do those things that we can to help, but the basic problem in California was caused by California.'' He said on ABC's ``This Week'' that the problem was California's flawed deregulation scheme and its cumbersome process for approving new power plants.

Meanwhile, state legislators continued discussions Sunday on two bills that deal with the financially strapped PG&E and SoCal Edison.

The two companies say they have lost $12 billion because they have paid sharply increased amounts for wholesale electricity while the state limits what they can charge their customers for that power.

One of the bills would authorize the state to step in and buy power from wholesalers under long-term contracts and sell it to PG&E and Edison customers. The other bill would provide the utilities with help in exchange for some sort of compensation.

The governor said Friday he prefers a plan under which ratepayers or the state would receive stock options that could be cashed in when the utilities' financial condition improved. Davis is expected to receive a state audit on the utilities' finances early this week.

Also this week, the state Public Utilities Commission could consider a proposal by PG&E that would require one of its counterparts, Southern California Gas Co., to buy natural gas for 3.8 million PG&E customers.

PG&E, in a filing earlier this month, warned the PUC that it could be forced to cut off gas service to hundreds of thousands of Northern California residents because of concerns about its financial stability.

PG&E is also asking the PUC to allow it to put gas suppliers first in line for payment, ahead of other creditors, to try to assure the gas companies that they will be paid.

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On the Net:

California ISO: http://www.caiso.com