Sweltering state: High demand for A/C spawns energy emergency


By Samantha Young
ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:35 p.m. July 24, 2006

SACRAMENTO – The start of a new work week amid sweltering temperatures pushed California's electricity supply to the brink on Monday, triggering some businesses to voluntarily cut their power usage.

As the eighth day of a scorching heat wave threatened to drive the demand for electricity to record levels, state energy managers elevated their emergency warning as they dipped into reserve supplies to keep up with the demand for power.

The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state's power grid, called on businesses to reduce their power usage in exchange for lower rates.

“This is the first time we've asked these customers to help us out,” said Stephanie McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the ISO. “We'll be able to slow the skyrocketing demand we're seeing.”

The voluntary power reductions Monday would save the state 1,800 megawatts of power, McCorkle said.

But involuntary rolling blackouts remained a possibility around the state later Monday as power usage was expected to reach a record 52,000 megawatts, said ISO president Yakout Mansour.

“If the trend continues and we do not have proper conservation, we may have that,” Mansour said. “Additional conservation now is critical for today.”

One megawatt is approximately enough electricity to run 750 homes.

Energy officials predicted mandatory rolling blackouts, if they occurred, would take place between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. – the peak hours for electricity usage.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed state agencies to reduce electricity use by 25 percent and turn off unnecessary equipment. He urged local and municipal governments and universities to do the same.

With temperatures across California climbing into the triple digits again Monday after record-breaking weekend highs, state and local authorities were investigating at least nine deaths in the smoldering Central Valley.

Officials at a Fresno hospital said three weekend deaths were heat-related and Fresno County authorities said at least two others may have succumbed to the stifling conditions, including a 56-year-old man who died from heat stroke on Saturday and a 42-year-old man found unconscious on a lawn Sunday. Two women, ages 75 and 90, also died Sunday and an unidentified victim succumbed to heat stroke.

State officials were looking into the death of a nursing home patient in Stockton who died after a nursing home air conditioner gave out in the 115-degree weather, a gardener who collapsed on the job in Bakersfield and an employee of a Fresno pool construction company.

In Modesto, a patient at Doctors Medical Center died Saturday of heart failure apparently caused by the heat after being admitted with a 106-degree temperature, hospital officials said.

Meanwhile, power companies continued to work to restore electricity to thousands of customers who lost power on Sunday. Some 50,000 customers in Northern California still were without electricity, including 35,000 in the San Jose and East Bay, according to Pacific Gas & Electric.

Brian Swanson, a spokesman for PG&E, said the outages were caused by equipment and transformer failures rather than a lack of supply. PG&E called in 133 crews with a total of 430 employees to help restore power there.

“We have more than enough supply to meet demand,” Swanson said. “The main call for conservation isn't a supply issue, but relieving the strain on the system.”

In Los Angeles, about 20,000 L.A. Department of Water and Power customers remained without electricity.

Monday's forecast called for high temperatures of 111 degrees in Morgan Hills, 110 in Fresno, Stockton and Modesto and 109 in Bakersfield. Southern California's Woodland Hills was expected to reach 106.

The sweltering heat was the result of a high-pressure system mixed with humidity from subtropical moisture streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico, according to Jamie Meyer, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The high pressure will drop off somewhat in the coming days along with the humidity, causing temperatures to fall a few degrees each day until midweek, she said.



Associated Press writers Christina Almeida in Los Angeles, Aaron Davis in Sacramento and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this report.



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