To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (289 ) 5/9/2001 1:09:38 AM From: Stoctrash Respond to of 1063 How's this for bullish???? Tuesday May 8, 9:37 pm Eastern Time Calif. Hit by Blackouts Again By Nigel Hunt LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California suffered its second consecutive day of statewide blackouts on Tuesday as consumers turned up their power-hungry air conditioners amid scorching temperatures, ignoring pleas for conservation, while officials warned of more of the same on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which runs most of the state's power grid, ordered utilities to impose blackouts across the state at 3:10 p.m. (6:10 p.m. EDT), cutting off power to some 300,000 homes and businesses. Those customers saw their power restored an hour later but a second block then lost electricity and it was around 5:15 p.m. (8:15 p.m. EDT) when blackouts were finally halted. ISO officials warned, however, that continued hot weather and tight power supplies threaten to create havoc on the grid again on Wednesday. ``We are experiencing record temperatures, so a third day of residual heat should be challenging,'' a spokeswoman said. Californians, used to coping with major disasters like earthquakes and forest fires, appeared to be taking the latest round of blackouts in their stride. In San Francisco, the fire department was called to rescue at least one woman trapped in an elevator while in southern California television stations reported a dentist was forced to send home a patient in the middle of treatment. Customers at gas stations also found themselves suddenly unable to finish filling their tanks with some of the highest-priced gasoline seen in years. Officials stressed that crucial public services such as hospitals, police and fire departments are exempt from the cuts -- reducing the danger of a major civic disruptions. Blackouts had been forecast by the ISO since early in the morning with the heat coming at a time when many power plants are still off line for spring maintenance. The financial woes of California's leading utilities helped to worsen the crisis. They were roughly evenly split between northern and southern California but customers of the nation's largest municipal utility, the Los Angeles Department and Power, were as usual excluded. The LADWP is not under the ISO's control and has more than enough generation to meet its demand. BLACKOUTS WIDESPREAD THAN MONDAY Tuesday's blackouts were more widespread than the previous day, when some 225,000 customers lost power for about an hour. Jim McIntosh, director of grid operations for the ISO said that the public responded to appeals for help on Monday and conserved power, helping to minimize blackouts. A similar response was not, however, forthcoming on Tuesday. ``It looks like we are seeing a lack of conservation,'' McIntosh said, noting demand has been running around 1,000 megawatt above Monday's levels. Earlier Tuesday, ISO officials had projected blackouts could be ordered as early as 9 a.m. (1600 GMT), but the return to service of two 500-kilovolt lines operated by Canadian utility BC Hydro meant vital supplies were able to flow south. As the whole Southwest baked with triple-digit temperatures in some areas, higher electricity use in states such as Nevada and Arizona meant less power for California, which normally imports up to 25 percent of its needs from its neighbors. ``With the regional heat in the Southwest we don't have imports...we would like to count on,'' said ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle. Rolling blackouts follow a ``Stage Three'' alert when operating reserves fall below 1.5 percent -- a level where there is a danger of a total collapse of the grid if emergency action is not taken. FINANCIAL CRISIS The shortage of supplies has been worsened by the financial crisis of the state's two leading utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, as many small power producers have received either no payment for their supplies or at best partial payment for several months. McIntosh said that 700 MW produced by these suppliers, known as Qualifying Facilities (QF), are currently offline for ''financial reasons.'' There is also a further 700 MW of QF production off-line for maintenance. PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG - news) unit Pacific Gas & Electric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month and Edison International (NYSE:EIX - news) unit Southern California Edison has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for months. The financial woes for the two utilities began in late spring 2000 as prices for wholesale power skyrocketed, boosted by buoyant demand linked to a strong economy and a decade in which virtually no new power plants had been built. The price hikes were a financial disaster for the utilities, which could not pass those costs on to their customers due to a retail price freeze mandated under the state's 1996 power deregulation law. The ISO just before noon and issued a so-called ``Stage Two'' alert. This resulted in the loss of power for some commercial and industrial customers. They receive power at a discount in return for agreeing to have their service cut off for up to six hours during an emergency. McIntosh estimated that ``interruptible'' customers who lose service under a Stage Two alert represent about 910 megawatts of demand, of which 850 MW is based in southern California. He noted these customers can only be interrupted 12 times under the terms of their contracts and Tuesday was the second consecutive day they had been called upon. ``That is another tool we are going to lose here shortly,'' he said, noting once the program has been exhausted the agency would lose an important buffer which has been limiting the frequency and extent of blackouts