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The malfunction at a Sylmar transfer facility, which affected 500,000 customers, points out a vulnerability in the power delivery system. The first rolling blackouts in California since the power crisis of 2001 were caused by a faulty sensor at a new power transfer station in Sylmar, raising concerns about how such a relatively minor glitch could leave nearly 500,000 customers without electricity. The $118-million facility, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, was opened with much fanfare last fall. But officials now believe a malfunction in a sensor that monitors a cooling system at the station triggered...

LOS ANGELES - A major transmission line feeding electricity to millions of Southern California customers shut itself off because of a faulty sensor, triggering scattered blackouts in the middle of a heat wave, officials said Friday. The Thursday afternoon outages, lasting about 30 minutes, affected about 500,000 Southern California Edison customers in several communities east and south of Los Angeles. "There was an oil flow alarm that went off," said Carol Tucker, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which co-owns the transmission line. "Upon checking into it, we determined that there was no problem with...

Just heard on LA County Fire frequency that 1 hour blackouts have been instituted....not sure whats up

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Bankrupt energy company Enron has agreed to pay $47.5 million in cash in a settlement that could reach more than $1.5 billion to resolve claims that it gouged California and other western states during the 2000-2001 energy crisis. The settlement will end market manipulation and price gouging claims against the once high-flying Houston-based company, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said. The agreement requires approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In addition to the cash payment, Enron will provide California with an unsecured claim for $875 million in the energy company's bankruptcy proceedings. Oregon and Washington...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Calpine Corp. said Wednesday it would sell all its remaining oil and gas properties to an indirect subsidiary for about $1.05 billion. Under the terms of the deal Rosetta Resources Inc., wholly owned by Calpine, will issue 45.3 million shares worth $725 million in a private placement. The proceeds, together with a $325 million in a new credit facility, will be used to buys all of Calpine's domestic oil and gas exploration and production assets. Shares of San Jose, Calif.-based Calpine (CPN: news, chart, profile) rose 5.83% in pre-opening trade Wednesday to $3.81. Calpine said the...

California and federal energy officials warned Thursday that the electricity system in Southern California would face hard times this summer, especially if the weather was unusually hot, and that next summer might be even rougher. The southern half of the state "is the worst electricity supply situation in the entire country," Joseph Kelliher, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said at an electricity conference in San Francisco. "It's indisputable that there are problems, and some problems have remained for some time," he said. FERC Chairman Patrick H. Wood III, reflecting on the chaotic blackout days of the California...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Merchant power company Calpine Corp. unveiled Wednesday an ambitious plan to knock $3 billion from its heavy debt load by the end of the year, one year sooner than earlier targeted. The plan, which aims to lower the company's annual interest payments by $275 million and trim $200 million from its annual operating costs, also includes selling up to eight power plants and shuttering others that are not turning a profit. Shares of the San Jose, Calif.-based electricity provider surged 53 cents, or 27%, on the news to $2.51. Calpine (CPN: news, chart, profile) , struggling...

Lockyer's Criminalizing of Energy Firms Under California’s 'Alice in Wonderland' Antitrust Laws Almost 45 years ago current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan prophetically wrote: “The world of antitrust is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland: everything seemingly is, yet apparent isn’t, simultaneously. It is a world in which actions designed to limit competition are branded as criminal when taken by businessmen, yet praised as ‘enlightened’ when initiated by the government. It is a world in which the law is so vague that businessmen have no way of knowing whether specific actions will be declared illegal until they hear the judge’s verdict...

The Issue: Edison’s push to invest $680 million in the San Onofre nuclear power plant, to keep it open – and providing power to 2.2 million homes – for at least another 17 years. The Spin: It’s a crazy idea, say Sierra Club-types in O.C. and beyond, because nuclear power is “inherently dangerous” and always has been.The Unspin: Few issues do a better job of showing that modern environmentalism is a secular religion – one driven by a faith in absolutes – than nuclear power.*****************************************************

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday threw his weight behind Long Beach and other coastal communities in a critical fight between California and the federal government. At stake is the state's authority to approve liquefied natural gas terminals and other coastal energy developments. In direct opposition to the Bush Administration, Schwarzenegger formally declared his support for states' rights when it comes to LNG terminals. In a letter to members of the Energy Committee, the governor stated his opposition to pending legislation that would grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission final approval of LNG sites. Officials in Long Beach, where an LNG...

Is the California Wholesale Energy Market Slowly Deregulating? Written by Wayne Lusvardi Wednesday, May 18, 2005 “Why is there only one monopolies commission? -- Anonymous The recent report that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has committed California to a 1,300-mile interstate power line project called the Frontier Line begs the question: “is California slowly deregulating electricity anyway after the so-called failed experience with energy deregulation in 2001?” (see “Importing power, fostering pollution – 4-state electric line encourages coal-fired plants”) If California has subtly deregulated wholesale electricity markets it is one of the quietist pieces of news in the press who continue to...

SACRAMENTO Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed a sweeping merger of the state's energy departments. In an effort to eliminate overlap and fragmentation of the state's energy system, Schwarzenegger has proposed consolidating four state agencies under a new Cabinet-level Secretary of Energy. The reorganization plan is intended to centralize decision-making and improve accountability. The Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state's power grid, is not included in the reorganization plan. Some industry analysts call the proposal a good idea that has been long overdue. But Democrats call the governor's ideas a grab for more control. The plan is expected to...

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled a four-month-old vacancy on the influential California Public Utilities Commission on Monday by appointing John Bohn, a fellow Republican with a diverse background in finance, law, technology, public relations and the government. Bohn, 67, is expected to be sworn in before the PUC's Thursday meeting, giving the state's top energy and telecommunications regulator a full slate of five commissioners for the first time this year. Schwarzenegger picked Bohn after a previous appointment of another Republican businessman, Steve Poizner, fell through. Poizner was never sworn in to the PUC because he held telecommunications investments...

California should have enough power to get through this summer without blackouts -- as long as nothing goes wrong. Keepers of the state's power grid say supplies are stretched so thinly that a widespread heat wave or wildfire could mean homeowners and businesses may once again wait their turn for the lights to go out. Rolling blackouts -- planned power outages that are "rolled" from area to area to protect the power grid when electricity supplies are critically low -- became part of Californians' life during the state's power crisis four years ago. Explosive growth in areas far from cooling...

Is Regulated Electricity Anti-Green? Solar power makes more sense if electricity is market priced - the political ramifications of solar power Severin Borenstein of the University of California Energy Institute has come up with a sophisticated study that proves common sense. Solar energy doesn't make much economic sense in a system where the retail price of electricity is socialized (i.e., costs averaged over every hour of the day per season and then spread across all customers or classes of customers) such as in California. But if electricity was real time priced by the hour of the day, as is being...

First paragraph at end..... While the market hub known as Mid-C or Mid-Columbia is only seconds away from Southern California on the DC Intertie, Platt's reports that traders require a 31% risk margin for transactions in California's administered markets versus transactions in the Pacific Northwest's open markets. The language in the Office of Management and Budget proposal is not clear whether the intention is to raise BPA's wholesale rates to market rates on the West Coast or to bring rates to national levels. The proposal to bring rates to national levels would make little sense as a market solution, because...

It's a pure travesty for a state agency to lock in a future of high prices for millions of California consumers when its specific mission is to protect those consumers. Yet, that is just what a recent natural gas decision by the California Public Utilities Commission would do. Besotted by the idea of high-tech foreign liquefied natural gas entering California via a group of coastal receiving terminals, the commission has authorized the state's largest gas companies to give up their rights to a huge amount of reserved space on two of the three largest pipelines now bringing gas into the...

SAN DIEGO – California asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday to order more than $6 billion in refunds for overcharges on electricity during the state's 2000-2001 energy crisis. "Equity and just and reasonable principles demand we get paid," said Stan Berman, who argued California's case before a three-judge panel. California has asked the court to step in because the state contends that federal energy regulators have failed to protect consumers. Berman said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, instead of seeking market-wide relief, is running a "shell game" with scores of proceedings against power marketers that deny California...

ROSEMEAD – Southern California Edison Co. has applied to build a 230-mile, high-voltage transmission line between Phoenix and Palm Springs. The Rosemead-based utility, a unit of Edison International, Tuesday said the Devers-Palo Verde 2 Project will provide California customers with 1,200 megawatts of electricity generated in Arizona. The company expects the project to cost $680 million and be in operation by summer 2009.

Nevada showdown pits coal plant proponents against advocates of renewable resources. L.A. is seen as playing a key role in the outcome. About 100 miles north of Reno, outside a desert town named Gerlach — whose slogan is "where the pavement ends and the West begins" — a quarrel is simmering that highlights the competing visions for the future of electricity production in the United States. And in a curious political twist, Los Angeles may find itself playing a deciding role in the dispute, a showdown between "green power" and coal power. Near the site of the annual Burning Man...