Posted on 01/29/2005 7:20:03 PM PST by NormsRevenge
A recent surge in statewide electricity consumption has sent regulators and energy planners scrambling to trim demand in every way possible this summer – including this week's proposals by the state's utilities to charge their largest users prohibitively high rates during power emergencies.
The sharply rising demand for power also has experts focusing on reasons for the surge, though one prominent consumer advocate questions whether such concerns are being exaggerated for political purposes.
Among the most frequently cited factors for rising demand is that state residents are no longer following the strict conservation habits adopted during the 2000-01 power crisis. Those conservation efforts, urged upon Californians as a civic duty, sent demand for power down as much as 14 percent at times, according to the California Energy Commission.
At one point, said Claudia Chandler, a commission spokeswoman, conservation was saving 5,500 megawatts, or the equivalent of about 10 modern power plants.
While much of the savings came from energy-efficiency measures – such as upgrading to modern power-saving appliances – a significant chunk came from simply flipping off unneeded lights or turning down air conditioners.
"What we have seen is that conservation works year to year, but four years after the crisis people revert back to old habits," said Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network in San Diego.
Another factor contributing to rising demand is a resurgent economy.
Joe Desmond, California's deputy secretary of energy, says power usage would have been even higher were it not for heavy investments in energy conservation.
And Desmond said the increase in demand – which he says exceeded 5 percent during certain periods – is likely to fluctuate.
"There's a certain amount of lumpiness in demand as growth picks up," he said.
San Diego Gas & Electric officials say housing development patterns across the region also add to rising power usage. With coastal properties largely unavailable, developers are building new homes further inland, which creates higher demand for home air conditioning.
Ed Van Herik, an SDG&E spokesman, noted that the main issue for energy planners involves shaving peak demand as much as or more than reducing overall demand.
That's because the utility needs to have enough power plants and transmission capacity to satisfy peak demand, although it may occur for only a few days each year.
"To the extent you can shave peak demand, you can forestall the construction of new infrastructure," he said.
The California Public Utilities Commission has pressed SDG&E and other utilities to institute an array of peak-trimming programs, and state regulators asked the utilities to come up with a plan that could impose super-high rates on the largest power users during periods of potential electric shortages this summer.
If the worst estimates prove accurate, all efforts might be required.
Some experts and utilities say California's appetite for electricity is growing at a rate faster than any in recent memory.
Within SDG&E's territory, for example, consumption rose 4 percent last year, or about double what the utility had been accustomed to.
Across the state in December, the California Independent System Operator says, it saw demand increases of 6 percent compared with last year, even during traditionally slack times like midnight.
Jim Detmers, vice president of operations for the ISO, says demand growth during November wasn't quite that high.
"But we still have demand growth of 4 to 6 percent," he said.
The energy commission says the ISO's estimate fails to account for fluctuations in weather, which can have a profound impact.
Chandler, the commission spokeswoman, said that when weather is taken into account, the state's demand growth rate is now closer to 2 percent annually.
But even that figure is twice what the state had been experiencing in recent years.
Michael Florio, a senior attorney with The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco consumer group, and a board member of the ISO, says he suspects there's been some exaggeration of demand in preliminary estimates.
Formal projections of electricity supply and demand for this summer won't be prepared by the ISO and the energy commission for a month or longer.
In the meantime, Florio said, some of the preliminary demand studies he's seen have not been well-prepared.
"There has been a lot of problems," he said, adding that he believes some of the professional staff at the energy commission had been pressured to reach certain conclusions.
Florio says the reason might be that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is determined to avoid blackouts during his administration and is therefore requiring a higher reliability standard than ever before.
The higher standard involves building more plants and transmission lines, a course strongly supported by the independent plant developers and utilities but one that could be expensive for consumers.
"What we are hearing is that this is expensive, but it's an insurance policy," Florio said. "Well, at some point you can have too much insurance, and I think we are perilously close to it."
Worries surface over energy
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/10766383.htm
Rick Jurgens -Contra Costa Times -- 1/29/05
A top state energy official warned Friday that Northern California could be hit by electricity shortages this summer, even as panelists at a forum on the state's power system said that no one has the clear responsibility to see that new power plants and transmission lines get built.
fyi
No problemo. They can get all the power that they need from Power Points. According to a survey, a large number of Californians think that power is generated from these.
Didn't the reservoirs all just fill up with the last storms? Isn't the snowpack greater than ever right now? That should help a little.
Such an obviously noble group would never do something like this unless the electric power from these plants was superfluous. After all, they're doing it for the children.
Send the illegal aliens home. The rest will level off.
My, this is such a surprise!!!! /sarcasm
When Californians finally realize that they are not the be-all end-all of America, maybe they will deserve more sympathy. Until then let them do their drugs in the dark.
My, that rant felt good!
LOL
Great one!
And if they didn't have 40 light bulbs in their kitchen alone, and turned off the heat in the hot tubs, etc etc......ah, but why should they live without all their "superfulicity" - Let the little people light candles.
On the other hand I wonder how many households are like mine. My desk alone has a cable modem, a router, printer, zip drive, computer and a Aquos Flat Panel 20 TV all in stand by mode. I missed a couple because there are 8 items plugged into the surge protector...
I've got a room equipped with TV, multiple monitors computers, printers, etc. Don't keep all of them turned on at the moment though.
But I Work light during the peak hours.
I missed a couple because there are 8 items plugged into the surge protector...
You forgot the latte maker.
No No No! There is a latte maker in each of the three bathrooms...
BTTT!!!!!
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I think you must have meant the Colorado River.
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