Governors to meet after storm worsens California power crisis

Cars are flooded in a parking deck after heavy rains in the Los Angeles area     WEB EXCLUSIVE Greg Lefevre on California's power crisis reprieve

In this story: Federal, state efforts Possible bankruptcy San Francisco area hardest hit RELATED STORIES, SITES

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- California Gov. Gray Davis will meet Friday with the governors of Oregon and Washington about how to battle an electricity crisis made worse by three days of powerful storms.

The planned summit comes a day after California electricity officials declared a Stage Three emergency for only the second time in history, as power levels fell low enough to threaten rolling blackouts across the state.

Thursday's storm knocked out power to more than 20,000 customers in Los Angeles, and scattered outages were reported near San Francisco. North of Los Angeles, a key power facility in San Luis Obispo called the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, was forced to reduce its output by 80 percent.

GALLERY Storm devastates California    VIDEO CNN's live coverage Thursday morning, showing the flooding and damage Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) A sailboat broke its moorings and crashed into land, spurring a rescue of the two people and a dog on board Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Correspondent Kristin Simoes shows the snow and wind damage Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   WINTER WEATHER Know what to do in a winter storm

The plant, like many others along the coast, uses vacuums to bring in cold water to cool its systems. But the high surf has dredged up increased amounts of kelp and ocean debris, forcing the plant to close the vacuums to avoid clogging them.

The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which handles much of the state's power grid, has asked consumers to conserve power in an attempt to avoid rolling blackouts, though none have yet been called.

It was the ISO that issued the Stage Three power alert Thursday night, meaning that the state's power grid had less than 1.5 percent of reserve power remaining. The ISO blamed the situation on heavy rain, cold temperatures and high surf along the coast, and credited power plants in Oregon and Washington for helping to avert blackouts by sending electricity to California.

Electricity shortages linked to California's deregulation of the power industry have produced soaring prices and sporadic threats of blackouts in California since June.

This week's harsh weather was expected to dissipate Friday across Northern California, Washington and Oregon while Southern California prepared for up to an inch of rain, CNN Meteorologist Dave Hennen said. Four inches fell on Thursday,

Federal, state efforts

Under an emergency stopgap order from Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, neighboring states have been selling power to California. Richardson extended that for a third time Thursday, until midnight Wednesday, after talking with Davis.

Davis and federal energy officials planned to resume talks over the weekend on possible solutions to the energy crisis.

A state Assembly committee, at the urging of Davis' office, has approved a bill to replace the ISO board with a three-member panel appointed by the governor. Members of the new board could have no ties to the electricity industry.

The governor says ISO managers aren't doing enough to find energy. His spokesman, Steve Maviglio, said the power producers on the ISO board benefit from the higher wholesale electricity prices brought on by the power alerts.

"They have an inherent conflict of interest," Maviglio said.

Jim Detmers, the ISO's general manager, said ISO managers were "not crying wolf" in calling the alerts. He also noted that the board's members include state officials, along with people in the power industry.

"We can expect these alerts daily," Detmers said.

Possible bankruptcy

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and SoCal Edison -- hit by high wholesale prices and battered on Wall Street -- say they face bankruptcy if they don't get more cash soon. The two utilities, which serve some 25 million people, estimate their losses at more than $10 billion.

A city worker inspects a car damaged by a fallen tree, after a storm in the Los Angeles area

State regulators have approved rate increases of 7 percent to 15 percent for PG&E and SoCal Edison customers, but Wall Street and the utilities said it will not be enough.

San Francisco area hardest hit

Most of the power generation outages, which do not necessarily result in blackouts, were concentrated around San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley. Transmission in that area is hindered by the limited number of lines available to deliver power from outside sources, California Power Exchange spokesman Jesus Arredondo said.

At least five plants shut down Wednesday night or early Thursday because of maintenance needs, the ISO said. A few were to return to operation Friday, but the ISO estimated the state would still be down 13,500 megawatts.

Near Los Angeles, California State Polytechnic University in Pomona closed down Thursday to conserve energy. In San Francisco, Mayor Willie Brown dimmed the lights in his office and instructed all city departments to scale back power use.

CNN Correspondent Greg LaMotte and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Holiday weekend expected to ease California power crisis
January 12, 2001
Power crisis expected to ease slightly for California
January 11, 2001
Mudslides wash away California homes, dreams
March 9, 2000

System Conditions - The California ISO
Storm Prediction Center Watch, Warning and Advisory Display Interactive Weather Information Network
Intellicast: Local Weather
Weather Channel
UM Weather (University of Michigan)
See related sites about WEATHER

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.