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Posted on 04/07/2002 6:33:41 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
By Nancy Price
Record Staff Writer
Barring unexpected disasters, Californians probably don't need to worry about having enough electricity to keep their air conditioners running this summer.
A combination of factors, including more electricity generators, a deeper snowpack in California and the Pacific Northwest that will increase hydroelectric power supplies, and continuing conservation efforts should keep the lights on in the Golden State.
Paying for it will be another matter.
Even though power-generating costs have dropped, primarily as a result of lower natural-gas prices, the cost of electricity in Stockton will remain at last summer's elevated rates.
Consumers who continue to conserve and remain within baseline usage amounts set by the California Public Utilities Commission will pay about 12.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Exceeding the baseline will cost an additional 2 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Consumer advocates say consumers' electric rates should be going down at the same time that wholesale prices are dropping.
"The question is, why aren't our bills coming down? And why is PG&E sitting on $5 billion in cash? It's because the rates are so much higher than their costs," said Mindy Spatt, a spokeswoman for The Utilities Reform Network, a Bay Area advocacy organization.
Northern Californians will likely see their rates remain at the higher levels for several years, partly as a result of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s bankruptcy declaration last year, said Paul Clanon, director of the energy division at the PUC.
Rates should remain stable for now, barring any unforeseen developments in the wholesale electricity market, he said.
A decision by the PUC last week setting "cost-of-service rates" for the state's power utilities means existing rates should cover costs, Clanon said.
Once the PG&E bankruptcy is settled and if power supplies aren't threatened, electric rates probably will decline in a few years to their former levels, he said.
Consumers were protected from rate increases last year when power costs spiraled by 400 percent. Gov. Gray Davis decided to spread out higher power costs over longer periods of time, spokesman Steve Maviglio said.
The governor is seeking to revise the long-term contracts that locked the state into higher rates, although at the time the rates agreed to were lower than the spot-market prices the state was paying to keep the grid powered.
Even though the forecast for this summer shows no blackouts on the horizon, the state still faces transmission bottlenecks, Maviglio said.
"We're not out of the woods, even though we're not in the headlines every day," he said. "We had 12 years of neglect before the governor took office."
The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's power grid, will announce later this month that the state can draw from 6,000 more megawatts this summer than last summer, when power sources were strained, spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle said.
More generating plants inside and outside California plus a healthy snowpack to produce hydropower are expected to keep power on this summer, she said.
Conservation by Californians cut overall usage by 10 percent and prevented the need for the ISO to order rolling blackouts to protect the energy grid, PG&E spokesman Jonathan Franks said.
"That 10 percent margin really made the difference," he said. "So we are going to be getting the message out again that it's vital for Californians to conserve, and you can save a lot of money that way, too."
Jim Madar of north Stockton likes the idea of saving money, but the retiree has about run out of conservation ideas. Last summer he replaced his incandescent bulbs with low-energy fluorescents, and his home's swamp cooler doesn't use much power to keep him and his wife comfortable during the summer.
"If there was something else I thought I could do to conserve, I probably would," he said. "I've thought about better windows, but the payback would be longer than I expect to live."
* To reach reporter Nancy Price, phone 546-8276 or e-mail nprice@recordnet.com
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Once the PG&E bankruptcy is settled and if power supplies aren't threatened, electric rates probably will decline in a few years to their former levels, he said.
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In other words Californian's should thank Gov Davis for the current high rates.
The correct answer is don't worry the Governor has done a mighty deed , slain the mighty dragon and things will get better!
LOL!
And two years after, before the crisis broke.
Consumers who continue to conserve and remain within baseline usage amounts set by the California Public Utilities Commission will pay about 12.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The only way I could remain within baseline usage amounts is if I had one lightbulb going. Baseline is such a total crock. Have you noticed that "baseline" changes from month to month? On my bills, in January it was 304 kWh. In February it was 276 kWh.
Someone is jerking California electricity users around and scamming us, but since it's individually all nickels and dimes, no one has become sufficiently aggrieved to do anything about it. There's a LOT of money being made on this energy crisis. I'd sure like to know who's lining their pockets.
I think I would look hard at the politicians.
Davis seems to have a loot of money coming in to his reelection campaign doesn't he!
I think that Gov Davis has come up with a political collary to this and that is that to get excessive amounts of campaign contributions, one needs to figure out a way to get lots and lots of money to flow through a government agency that one controls. I think that Davis is pretty crafty and not really focused on what is good for the general public, but hey he is a Democrat and by definition a modern Democrat doesn't really care about improving the lot of the electorate, they just want to be viewed and heard as caring. Words get more votes than actions, at least for democrats.
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