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Sac Bee, Mon, 5/7: "It's crunch time on power rates" SD Union, Sun, 5/6: "SDG&E shutoff notices increasing" SD Union, Sun, 5/6: "State OKs $7 billion contract" SD Union, Sun, 5/6: "The energy crisis gives Filner some easy targets" SD Union, Sat, 5/5: "Gephardt tells rally here he's pushing price caps" LA Times, Mon, 5/7: "Proud Linemen Take a Hit" LA Times, Sun, 5/6: "Utility's Workers Watch Helplessly as Company Falls" LA Times, Mon, 5/7: "Utility Bills Are Just One Way People Pay for Energy= =20 Crisis" LA Times, Mon, 5/7: "Questions Remains Who'll Take Brunt of the Rate Hikes= " LA Times, Sun, 5/6: "Riordan and Freeman's Feud Erupts in Public" LA Times, Sat, 5/5: "Cheney Rejects Price Caps, Aid for Calif. Power Crisi= s" SF Chron, Mon, 5/7: "Rolling Health Hazards=20 Summer Blackouts May Pose Public Health Risks" SF Chron, Mon, 5/7: "Oh, that boom in 2002 " SF Chron (AP), Mon, 5/7: "Developments in California's energy crisis"=20 SF Chron, Mon, 5/7: "U.S. considers withdrawing lawsuits against coal=20 industry=20 Pollution controls affect power plants " SF Chron, Mon, 5/7: "Swimming pool owners get PG&E discounts=20 Operating pumps at night saves energy " SF Chron, Sun, 5/6: "Legislators plan to sue U.S. panel on energy=20 Top state Democrats want cap on prices" SF Chron, Sun, 5/6: "Nevada's winning hand -- power=20 State sees profit in California's crisis" Mercury News, Mon, 5/7: "Share prices rise amid news of big energy deals" Mercury News, Mon, 5/7: "Florida shrugs off Calif-blackout scenario" Mercury News, Mon, 5/7: "Hot days worry energy watchers" OC Register, Mon, 5/7: "Unplugged Manking has lived thousands of years without electricity. The Amish still = do. Californians may have to. We called an Ohio hardware store to find out how" Individual.com (AP), Mon, 5/7: "Mexico Continues Power Exports To=20 California" WSJ, Mon, 5/7: "Charged Up: Texas May Face a Glut of Electricity, but that Won't Aid Rest of U.S." Energy Insight, Mon, 5/7: "Out of Eden: California on the edge" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- ---------------------------------------------------- It's crunch time on power rates By Carrie Peyton Bee Staff Writer (Published May 7, 2001)=20 In a San Francisco hearing room, lawyers settled into squeaky green seats,= =20 flopped their briefcases onto the orange carpet and waited.=20 Where was Gov. Gray Davis' plan for how a whopping electric rate hike shoul= d=20 be spread among homes and stores, farms and offices?=20 Where were the underlying calculations that explained why Pacific Gas and= =20 Electric Co. customers should pay a stiffer increase than Southern Californ= ia=20 Edison's customers?=20 And where was the sworn witness who would answer tough questions after=20 formally introducing the governor's plan at quasi-legal rate hearings at th= e=20 state Public Utilities Commission?=20 The Governor's Office knew that business and utility lawyers were asking fo= r=20 details and for someone they could cross-examine, Administrative Law Judge= =20 Christine Walwyn assured those gathered in the dingy hearing room last week= .=20 "We have relayed all parties' comments to their office. There has been no= =20 response," she said.=20 Chuckles and snorts played over the room. "Surprise, surprise" one attorney= =20 muttered.=20 "Frankly, it was handled terribly," Shelly Sharp, PG&E's director of rates,= =20 said later. "It's sort of a mockery of the process."=20 Rarely has the interplay between Sacramento and San Francisco been as visib= ly=20 strained as it was in the rate-making drama that has unfolded for the past= =20 month.=20 At stake are issues that will touch virtually every home and business in th= e=20 state and could drastically alter California's power landscape.=20 The right rates could spur conservation, reduce summer blackouts and drive= =20 down wholesale costs, many believe. The wrong ones could decimate businesse= s=20 and kill jobs, regulators have been warned.=20 The PUC, which regulates rates, has been gathering data to decide which=20 consumers will get hit hardest by the $4.8 billion rate hike approved in la= te=20 March. Normally, it takes six months to a year to make such decisions.=20 Now, the PUC is trying to do the job in about six weeks, and Walwyn is=20 scheduled to release her draft decision Tuesday. Community hearings will be= =20 held across the state before commissioners vote May 14, two weeks before th= e=20 new charges start showing up on customers' bills June 1.=20 Hanging over it all have been two patches of fog. The state did not give=20 regulators the details on how much money it thinks it needs in rates until= =20 Wednesday -- so late it was "useless" for this round of rate design, said a= =20 source familiar with the process.=20 The wait for the data has been "just purely frustrating and leaves everyone= =20 in the dark," said Ed Yates, vice president of the California League of Foo= d=20 Processors.=20 And the governor, who outlined some general ideas for rates in a speech Apr= il=20 5, followed up two weeks later by trying to submit, as written testimony, a= =20 short question-and-answer summary and slides from his Web site.=20 "There's no meat on the bones. There are hardly any bones," said Bob=20 Finkelstein, an attorney for The Utility Reform Network in San Francisco.= =20 Ultimately, the judge refused to admit Davis' offerings as testimony, letti= ng=20 them into the record only as "reference items" that do not carry the weight= =20 of evidence.=20 The governor's press office has said it believes Davis' opinions will be=20 thoroughly considered by the commission in that format.=20 Davis gave the PUC the same template he gave the Legislature, said spokesma= n=20 Steve Maviglio, and "the outlines of the plan are clear." He added that PUC= =20 staffers assured the Governor's Office the information was "acceptable."=20 The episode was nerve-wracking for participants because of the clout Davis = is=20 believed to carry at the PUC, where three of the five commissioners are his= =20 appointees.=20 "The parties are legitimately afraid that the governor's proposal might be= =20 rammed down their throats," consumer advocate James Weil said.=20 The parties include everyone from winemakers to oil refineries. They've bee= n=20 presenting witnesses, firing off briefs and trying to persuade regulators t= o=20 set rates in ways that will have the least possible effect on their=20 operations.=20 Do this wrong, and "you're going to lose whole industries," lobbyist D.J.= =20 Smith warned in an interview.=20 Do this wrong, and "we're going to have severe economic disruption of the= =20 state, of the sort we haven't seen in 30 years," energy economist Severin= =20 Borenstein testified.=20 Taking the first stab at sorting the wrong choices from the right ones will= =20 be Walwyn, the judge and former Nevada PUC commissioner whom business group= s=20 accuse of tending to favor small consumers. She will have to sift conflicti= ng=20 arguments on two key issues and scores of smaller ones, often with hundreds= =20 of millions of dollars at stake:=20 First, how can rates be designed to encourage conservation?=20 Borenstein, who heads the University of California Energy Institute, urged= =20 the commission to get tough with virtually everyone, despite political=20 pressure. Big users should be forced onto real-time rates that fluctuate wi= th=20 the power market, and household users should get rebates for cutting use an= d=20 face steep charges if they surpass baseline rates.=20 Such calls have met with strong opposition from businesses least able to cu= t=20 consumption when prices are highest, such as canneries that operate around= =20 the clock and department stores that want to stay open at peak hours.=20 A second, equally contentious issue is who should bear the brunt of the rat= e=20 hike.=20 PUC President Loretta Lynch, the commissioner assigned to oversee this rate= =20 case, suggested early on that her colleagues should consider reversing a=20 long-standing policy of charging the biggest users some of the lowest price= s.=20 Before this year's twin rate hikes, PG&E's household rates averaged more th= an=20 10 cents a kilowatt-hour while its largest industrial customers paid less= =20 than 5 cents. Heavy industries contend such imbalances are fair because the= =20 biggest power users cost less to serve. They consume steady amounts of=20 electricity around the clock, while homeowners' consumption shoots up durin= g=20 high-priced peaks.=20 The overall rate hike approved unanimously by commissioners March 27 gives= =20 PG&E and Edison the right to collect the equivalent of an extra 3 cents for= =20 every kilowatt-hour of electricity they sell.=20 There are at least two ways to do that: Charge everyone 3 cents more or sen= d=20 everyone's rates up about 29 percent for PG&E customers and 26 percent for= =20 Edison's.=20 "Any time you use an equal-cents allocation, it's going to be to the benefi= t=20 of smaller customers," said Sharp, PG&E's rate director. The equal-cent=20 method is also fairer than equal percentage hikes, she said, because those= =20 are based on "very, very old" calculations about how much it costs to serve= =20 different customers.=20 But Edison has taken the opposite stand, urging the commission to go easier= =20 on its biggest customers, with rate hikes that top out at about 30 percent= =20 for any one group. "We want to ensure that the increase is allocated fairly= =20 among customer classes," said Akbar Jazayeri, Edison's manager of pricing a= nd=20 tariffs.=20 The Bee's Carrie Peyton can be reached at (916) 321-1086 or=20 cpeyton@sacbee.com.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- --------------------------------------------- SDG&E shutoff notices increasing=20 By Jeff McDonald=20 UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER=20 May 6, 2001=20 Not much bigger than a postcard, the final notice from San Diego Gas &=20 Electric Co. came curled inside the front gate of her Lakeside mobile home.= =20 Marie Maurer found it only after hearing rustling outside. The bill collect= or=20 was already on his way to a nearby mobile home, without having spoken a wor= d=20 to the 72-year-old woman.=20 The news was not good. SDG&E wanted $200 -- a big chunk of her $283.95 debt= =20 -- and Maurer was $47 short. The retired nurse had three days to come up wi= th=20 the money or have her electricity shut off.=20 "I try so hard to save and to budget," said Maurer, who gets by on a few=20 hundred dollars a week in Social Security and government rental assistance.= =20 "I don't go anywhere. I collect cans. I pawn stuff."=20 Maurer is among a growing number of fixed-income senior citizens,=20 small-business owners and others getting pinched by rising electricity cost= s=20 -- and increasingly fearful of what the hot summer months might bring.=20 Unable to meet the commanding debt piling up on their electric and=20 natural-gas bills, ratepayers such as Maurer are facing 72-hour disconnect= =20 notices, or in many cases agreeing to what amounts to revolving=20 pay-as-you-can accounts.=20 SDG&E refused to say how many customers have had their power shut off for= =20 nonpayment in recent months, saying such information is proprietary and=20 confidential.=20 But consumer groups and business resource centers report a fresh influx of= =20 calls for help in finding what little relief is available.=20 "I'm getting more people contacting me with disconnection notices," said Jo= di=20 Beebe, an analyst with the Utility Consumers' Action Network. "They're=20 flooded. It's very frustrating for many people."=20 Ken M. Clark of the Small Business Development Center at Southwestern Colle= ge=20 said he gets 10 or 12 calls a week from business owners worried about the= =20 price of power. At this time last year, he was receiving none.=20 "Some of them are looking for a shoulder to cry on," Clark said. "They're n= ot=20 necessarily looking to solve the energy crisis, but possibly to buy some ti= me=20 or make a strategy to get through this."=20 The situation could grow worse in a hurry. Gov. Gray Davis has suggested th= at=20 the Public Utilities Commission allow SDG&E to raise its electricity rate b= y=20 44 percent.=20 Not only that, but barely half the low-income ratepayers in California=20 eligible for relief programs have enrolled. Regulators blame the low figure= =20 on less-than-diligent outreach efforts by the utilities.=20 At their meeting last week, commissioners warned utility companies to work= =20 harder at signing up more of the 2 million or so customers eligible for the= =20 California Alternate Rates for Energy program.=20 "If they don't, we'll order them to," PUC President Loretta Lynch said.=20 Eligibility rules allow customers with incomes of up to 175 percent of the= =20 federal poverty level to qualify. A one-or two-resident home is now eligibl= e=20 with an income of $21,233 or less; a three-person home, $25,083.=20 The program, which offers a 15 percent discount on electricity, is funded b= y=20 a 25-to 50-cent surcharge on the bills of other customers. That fee may ris= e=20 once regulators decide how to implement the latest rate increase.=20 Low-income customers are exempt from the recent rate hike.=20 Officials at SDG&E, where almost 20 percent of the 1.2 million ratepayers a= re=20 eligible for discounted electric rates, say they steer as many customers as= =20 they can into the programs. Customer service representatives also are=20 available to help consumers arrange payment plans, the utility said.=20 "Whenever we hear that a customer has a problem, we want to contact them an= d=20 see if we can't solve the problem," spokesman Ed Van Herik said. "We work t= o=20 keep customers' power on."=20 Jane Johnson isn't so sure.=20 The disabled woman from San Diego's Lomita neighborhood received a disconne= ct=20 notice Friday. SDG&E demanded $210 to avoid shutting off the power within= =20 three business days.=20 "We were fairly good, but every now and then the bill was late," Johnson=20 said. "Last August our bills tripled, and ever since then I have not been= =20 able to get caught up."=20 The run-up in electricity costs last summer prompted state regulators to=20 order SDG&E to stop shutting off power to customers who could not pay their= =20 bills. But that directive lasted only through October.=20 By November, the utility began asking larger users to bring their bills=20 current, and the same request was made of small businesses in December. SDG= &E=20 began requiring residential customers to pay off their debts in January.=20 Those who cannot pay are subject to a $15 disconnect fee and a $9 charge fo= r=20 delivering final notices. Even more daunting, a deposit equal to twice the= =20 consumer's highest monthly bill may be required before service is restored.= =20 It is difficult to gauge how deeply the crisis has hurt low-income people.= =20 SDG&E will only discuss in vague terms the numbers of customers who have be= en=20 issued disconnect notices or been forced into revolving payment plans.=20 "After resuming credit collections, we did have an accelerated number of=20 customers who entered into pay agreements," Van Herik said.=20 For Maurer and Johnson, assistance came in the form of intervention by Beeb= e,=20 the Utility Consumers' Action Network analyst who works with SDG&E in=20 restructuring customer payments.=20 Nonetheless, "it's a constant worry," said Maurer, who said she had to sell= a=20 gold watch to finance part of her latest utility bill. "I don't think we're= =20 going to have any real relief for two or three years." The Associated Press contributed to this report.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- --------------------------------------------- State OKs $7 billion contract=20 Sempra unit to sell half its power output By Ed Mendel=20 UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER=20 May 6, 2001=20 SACRAMENTO -- A San Diego-based firm that is building several efficient,=20 clean-burning power plants has agreed to sell about half its output to the= =20 state under a 10-year contract worth $7 billion.=20 Sempra Energy Resources becomes the second-largest provider as the state pu= ts=20 together a portfolio of cheaper long-term power contracts, lowering the cos= t=20 of buying power for utility customers on the expensive spot market.=20 As the state struggles to find power at reasonable prices to keep the light= s=20 and air conditioners on this summer, Sempra Energy Resources will begin=20 providing 250 megawatts next month during peak-load periods, enough to supp= ly=20 power to 188,000 to 250,000 households.=20 Sempra Energy Resources, an unregulated sister company to San Diego Gas &= =20 Electric, will provide as much as 1,900 megawatts by 2004 as new plants at= =20 Bakersfield, Phoenix and Mexicali come on-line. The company is seeking=20 permits for a new plant in Escondido and an expansion of a plant near Las= =20 Vegas.=20 "The fact that we are taking roughly half of our output and committing that= =20 to the state I think is a good outcome for us and the state," said Donald= =20 Felsinger, group president of Sempra Energy's unregulated units.=20 State officials said the price paid for power under the Sempra contract is= =20 lower than the portfolio long-term average of 6.9 cents per kilowatt-hour a= nd=20 that the price will be a third to a half cheaper this summer than current= =20 spot market prices. They have not revealed the exact price of power specifi= ed=20 in any of the energy contracts.=20 "This is a positive step toward increasing the available power supply to=20 California at a significantly lower price than currently found on the spot= =20 market," Gov. Gray Davis said in a statement.=20 Felsinger said Sempra is investing $2 billion in power plants with the late= st=20 technology capable of using about 40 percent less natural gas while produci= ng=20 the same amount of power as older models.=20 "We are probably one of the more attractive prices that has been negotiated= ,"=20 said Felsinger, "because we have a brand-new, efficient fleet."=20 Sempra Energy of San Diego is the parent firm of Sempra Energy Resources an= d=20 SDG&E, the local utility.=20 In one of the ironies of the California electricity crisis, the state will = be=20 buying power from one unit of Sempra Energy and providing the power to the= =20 customers of another Sempra unit, SDG&E.=20 The state began buying power for utility customers in January after Souther= n=20 California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric, whose rates were frozen und= er=20 deregulation as wholesale power costs soared, ran up a $13 billion debt and= =20 were no longer able to borrow.=20 Monthly bills for customers of SDG&E, the first utility to be deregulated,= =20 doubled and tripled last summer before they were capped by legislation in= =20 September.=20 The state has spent about $6 billion buying power for the customers of the= =20 three investor-owned utilities. Davis wants to repay the state general fund= =20 with a $12.5 billion bond that would be paid off by ratepayers over 15 year= s.=20 Assembly Republicans have proposed that the state surplus be used to pay fo= r=20 $5 billion of the power costs, lowering the bond to $8 billion and reducing= =20 monthly bills for ratepayers in the months ahead.=20 There are grim predictions of blackouts and soaring costs as the demand for= =20 power increases this summer, traditionally by about half because of air=20 conditioning and other factors.=20 The agency that manages the power grid, the Independent System Operator, ha= s=20 forecast that the peak demand could reach 50,303 megawatts next month, 3,64= 7=20 megawatts above the generation expected to be available in the region.=20 The state has to purchase only about a third of the total supply -- the "ne= t=20 short" remaining after the power provided from utility generators and small= =20 nonutility generators operating under the federal "qualifying facilities"= =20 program.=20 The state contract with Sempra, which jointly operates a 480-megawatt plant= =20 near Las Vegas with Reliant Energy of Houston, does not add new generation= =20 but will lower state spending.=20 An analysis issued by the governor's consultants last week forecast that 37= =20 percent of the power that the state will have to buy from July through=20 September will be covered by long-term contracts.=20 The rest of the power will have to be purchased on the expensive spot marke= t.=20 Some think the analysts' prediction that the average price will be 19.5 cen= ts=20 per kilowatt-hour is optimistic.=20 The analysts expect a decline in the average price of 35 cents per=20 kilowatt-hour from April through June because of additional small plants=20 operating during peak periods and conservation, including "sticker shock"= =20 from a rate increase that may boost the average residential bill 26 percent= .=20 The state Department of Water Resources, which purchases power for the stat= e,=20 also is trying to negotiate more contracts like the Sempra agreement that= =20 will help lower costs this summer.=20 "I don't think we have any others quite that large under negotiation," said= =20 Ray Hart, DWR deputy director, "but we are still working on a number of=20 contracts."=20 Hart said that only a contract with a San Jose-based firm, Calpine, is larg= er=20 than the Sempra contract announced yesterday. Calpine reportedly has an=20 agreement to sell the state $12.9 billion worth of power. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- -------------------------------------------------- The energy crisis gives Filner some easy targets=20 He's carving new niche, bringing state woes to Washington's attention By Philip J. LaVelle=20 UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER=20 May 6, 2001=20 When he passed on the 2000 San Diego mayor's race, Rep. Bob Filner based hi= s=20 decision, at least in part, on a flawed political calculation.=20 "I thought the Democrats would be in the majority in Congress," Filner said= =20 in a recent interview. "Given my seniority, I would have a large role to=20 play."=20 He was dead wrong. In November, Republicans retained slim control in the=20 107th Congress while the Electoral College gave the White House to a=20 Republican who now governs from the right.=20 Hard times for an old-school liberal like Filner?=20 Not to hear him tell it.=20 His party may be out of power, but Filner, 58, is carving a niche for himse= lf=20 in California's energy crisis, an issue he caught on to last year, long=20 before it popped up on Washington's radar screens.=20 Filner is attacking the issue with his well-known brand of aggressive actio= n.=20 As a San Diego City Council member (1987-1992) he led the Gang of Five, a= =20 dissident bloc that opposed then-Mayor Maureen O'Connor.=20 As a congressman, the San Diego Democrat reveled in making life difficult f= or=20 visiting GOP big shots, crashing local events featuring former Senate=20 Majority Leader Bob Dole and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.=20 He peppers county newsrooms with news releases of his energy pronouncements= =20 and frenetic schedule, including a protest Friday with House Minority Leade= r=20 Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., outside Duke Energy's South Bay plant.=20 The crisis provides easy targets:=20 Democratic Gov. Gray Davis? "You cannot be moderate to solve this problem,"= =20 Filner said.=20 Republican President Bush? "Basically a prop of the big, big corporations,= =20 and the energy crisis shows it."=20 Out-of-state energy producers? "They know they can rob our state blind=20 because they have a friend in the White House."=20 Energy prices actually began their rise through the stratosphere when=20 Democrat Bill Clinton was president.=20 Fifth term Voters in Filner's solidly Democratic 50th Congressional District seem to= =20 approve. In November they handed him a fifth term with a commanding 69=20 percent of the vote against light opposition.=20 A tough campaigner, Filner has consistently won re-election in his South Ba= y=20 district by comfortable margins, and ran unopposed in 1998. His biggest=20 primary challenge came from Democrat Juan Vargas, then on the City Council,= =20 who lost to Filner by 9 percent in 1996. Vargas is now a state assemblyman.= =20 Filner follows the late House Speaker Tip O'Neill's maxim that all politics= =20 is local. After first meeting Filner, people of all stripes typically recei= ve=20 great-to-meet-you letters, usually within 48 hours.=20 His district, which abuts the U.S.-Mexico border, includes the southern hal= f=20 of the city of San Diego, plus National City and Chula Vista. It is one of= =20 the most ethnically diverse in the nation, at 41 percent Latino, 29 percent= =20 Anglo, 15 percent Filipino and 15 percent African-American.=20 Back in Washington, despite the Republican domination, Filner says he is we= ll=20 positioned to pursue national leadership roles in the energy crisis and=20 border infrastructure.=20 Filner sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Transportation= =20 and Infrastructure Committee. His successes include helping get an=20 international sewage treatment plant built here; securing limited benefits= =20 for Filipino veterans of the U.S. military; and securing greater benefits f= or=20 all veterans.=20 He has failed, so far, in efforts to restore full benefits to Filipino=20 veterans of World War II.=20 Wide interests At times, Filner's interests range far afield, from championing a homeland= =20 for the Kurds, a policy rejected by the U.S. government, to co-sponsoring= =20 legislation this term condemning destruction of pre-Islamic statues in=20 Afghanistan by the Taliban regime.=20 On core issues, Filner swims against a strong tide. Congress "is totally=20 controlled by the Republican majority," said UC San Diego political scienti= st=20 Gary Jacobson, making "the role of the minority severely circumscribed."=20 Filner's top areas of interest have been slow to gain traction in the=20 Beltway. The border is a neglected issue there, but the energy crisis has= =20 finally become a national story.=20 On border infrastructure -- "my key thing" -- Filner supports completing=20 state Route 905 to link the Otay Mesa crossing with the interstate freeway= =20 system. He also hopes to revive the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway to= =20 create a "jobs train" that could spur commerce here.=20 "If we can do this border infrastructure .?.?. we not only help trade betwe= en=20 the two nations, we transform the economy of this region," he said.=20 Julie Meier Wright, president of the San Diego Regional Economic Developmen= t=20 Corp., applauds Filner's focus but finds his positions inconsistent, given= =20 his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement. "Border=20 infrastructure is needed in significant part because of the increased=20 economic activity" spurred by NAFTA, she said.=20 Being anti-NAFTA fits his political base; organized labor, which opposed=20 NAFTA, ranks consistently among Filner's biggest institutional sources of= =20 campaign cash, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.=20 Paul Ganster, director of San Diego State University's Institute for Region= al=20 Studies of the Californias, sees no inconsistency. "It's possible to be ver= y=20 critical of NAFTA and at the same time recognize there are very positive=20 benefits that can be brought by free trade," he said.=20 Border problems Filner and others are concerned that the NAFTA has increased problems along= =20 the border that are not being addressed.=20 "That's my biggest disappointment, that we have not been able to bring the= =20 border to its rightful place in national consciousness. .?.?. Nobody gives = a=20 damn about it in Washington," said Filner, who attended Mexican President= =20 Vicente Fox's inauguration and is in his second year of Spanish lessons.=20 Filner got on the energy crisis last year when San Diego became the first= =20 California city to bear the brunt of the state's 1996 deregulation=20 legislation. His working-class district has been particularly hard hit.=20 In January, he introduced a bill to force the Federal Energy Regulatory=20 Commission to cap energy rates, retroactive to last June. It was supported = by=20 Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, a conservative about as far from Filner on= =20 the political spectrum as one can get. Filner now supports another energy= =20 bill advanced by representatives from California, Washington and Oregon.=20 Filner may have no desire to ever run for governor -- but if he held the jo= b,=20 he said, there would be no mistaking him for Gov. Davis on the energy issue= .=20 "I'd be all over the place. .?.?. I'd probably be in jail because I'd be=20 joining protests."=20 He's been there before.=20 In 1961, as a Cornell University undergraduate, Filner took on segregation= =20 and went to Mississippi as a Freedom Rider. He integrated a lunch counter,= =20 which landed him in state prison for a few months.=20 A Pittsburgh native raised in New York City, Filner, with a doctorate in th= e=20 history of science, is one of the most highly educated members of Congress.= =20 He taught history at SDSU for 20 years. In the mid-1970s he was an aide to= =20 the late Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey. Filner was on the San Diego school board= =20 from 1978 to 1983 before being elected to the City Council.=20 Will Filner run for mayor in 2004?=20 "It's a possibility," he said. But if Mayor Dick Murphy "continues the job= =20 he's doing, he's there for two terms, and that puts me a pretty old guy." H= e=20 may choose instead to attempt a long House career, hoping the Democrats=20 become the majority in next year's midterm elections. "The more terms --=20 assuming you stay in touch with your constituents -- gives you a chance to = do=20 all kinds of things."=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- ------------------------------------------------------------ Gephardt tells rally here he's pushing price caps=20 By Ronald W. Powell and Craig D. Rose=20 UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS=20 May 5, 2001=20 CHULA VISTA -- The nation's electric power crisis heated up here yesterday = as=20 House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt demanded that President Bush and the= =20 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission work to immediately curb runaway=20 electric rates.=20 Standing before a noontime crowd of more than 300 angry electricity consume= rs=20 outside the bay-front South Bay Power Plant, Gephardt said Bush should tell= =20 the commission to cap the prices power companies can charge. And he said he= =20 is pushing a bill that would impose caps on energy prices.=20 The former presidential aspirant from Missouri exhorted the throng to=20 organize and fight against the power generators that have dramatically rais= ed=20 rates in California and the West.=20 "This is your country," said Gephardt, pounding the podium to rousing cheer= s.=20 "If you vote, if you make yourself heard, we can solve this problem."=20 Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, who organized the rally, said federal=20 regulators should order more refunds to consumers for overcharges by what h= e=20 described as an "energy cartel."=20 "This is the kind of pressure that will bring down prices," Filner said.=20 Filner chose the South Bay plant as the backdrop for the rally because=20 critics are accusing the facility, operated by Duke Energy, of charging=20 exorbitant electric rates after receiving a low-cost lease from the San Die= go=20 Unified Port District. The 10-year deal was negotiated in 1998.=20 According to the terms of the deal, Duke is obligated to build a replacemen= t=20 plant off-site before its lease expires. Duke then should dismantle the=20 existing plant and turn over to the port 200 acres, including the plant=20 property, free of contamination and ready for development.=20 But critics say taxpayers may not get what was advertised because Duke want= s=20 to build the new plant on 30 of the promised acres.=20 Filner is joining those who say the existing plant and any new plant should= =20 be publicly owned and offer affordable rates. He said Duke and other=20 generators are using their facilities to charge illegal power prices -- a= =20 breach of the lease.=20 "They have broken the terms of the lease and we should take it back," Filne= r=20 said.=20 Jerry Butkiewicz, secretary-treasurer of the San Diego-Imperial Counties=20 Labor Council, accused Duke of gouging consumers.=20 "We want the government and the port to take back this property," Butkiewic= z=20 told the crowd. "We own this (plant)."=20 Duke officials insist the company is abiding by its lease with the port.=20 After the rally, Duke spokesman Tom Williams said the company does not have= =20 to do anything about building a replacement plant at this time, but is acti= ng=20 "proactively" by exploring the possibility of constructing a new generating= =20 plant on the same site.=20 Chula Vista Mayor Shirley Horton, interviewed at the rally, chided Gephardt= =20 and the other congressional representatives, including Rep. Susan Davis,=20 D-San Diego, for criticizing Duke for raising electric rates while doing=20 nothing about power plants owned by the federal government that have also= =20 hiked rates.=20 "What are they doing to provide affordable energy at reasonable prices (at= =20 the federally operated plants)?" Horton asked. Horton wants to see a new=20 power plant built on a part of the 200-acre site that is south of the curre= nt=20 facility and inland from the bay. She said Chula Vista is negotiating with= =20 Duke in hopes of striking a deal that would allow joint ownership of a new= =20 plant.=20 Michael Aguirre, a local lawyer suing power companies on behalf of Lt. Gov.= =20 Cruz Bustamante and on behalf of ratepayers in a separate class-action case= ,=20 said Duke is among a handful of companies in an energy cartel that have=20 manipulated prices statewide. Aguirre said the port should move to void its= =20 lease with the company.=20 But Williams, the Duke spokesman, denied accusations that the South Bay pla= nt=20 sold power at illegal prices. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission=20 recently required the company to issue refunds, but Williams said those=20 payments are related to surcharges the company imposed on power sales to=20 compensate for growing credit risks in California.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- --------------------------------------------------------- Second of three articles EDISON'S AGONY Proud Linemen Take a Hit=20 Energy: Morale sinks as the utility's workers are forced to do the=20 unthinkable: leave customers in the dark.=20 By NANCY CLEELAND, Times Staff Writer=20 ?????Lineman Ernie Lopez has been rousted out of bed on countless cold, rai= ny=20 nights. He's climbed 100-foot utility poles in heavy winds and grabbed live= =20 electrical lines with nothing but a pair of rubber gloves to protect him.= =20 ?????But the hardest thing Lopez has done in 20 years at Southern Californi= a=20 Edison is walk away from a darkened apartment building while residents=20 pleaded for their heat. Lineman Ernie Lopez repairs ground wire in Hacienda Heights. He doesn't loo= k=20 forward to work like he used to. BRIAN WALSKI / Los Angeles Times ?????It happened in late January. Sinking in debt, Edison had just announce= d=20 drastic budget cuts, including a ban on most overtime. The new rule: If it'= s=20 not a public safety problem, it has to wait until the next business day.=20 ?????Edison's 990 linemen, as well as the people they left shivering in the= =20 dark, howled. Within a week, the utility loosened its overtime restriction.= =20 But Lopez had already done the unthinkable--twice--and remained shellshocke= d. ?????"You get the lights on at all costs. That was bred into us from the=20 get-go," he said two weeks after leaving customers without power in Whittie= r=20 and La Puente. "It's in the preamble of our [union] contract."=20 ?????Months of uncertainty and bad press have chipped away at the pride=20 linemen like Lopez once took in their jobs. Customers harangue him,=20 complaining about rate increases and fat Edison salaries. Service levels ar= e=20 deteriorating. It's going to be a terrible summer. "I don't look forward to= =20 coming to work as much as I used to." ?????As Lopez drives toward an outage in Covina, he shouts into a cell phon= e=20 over the rattling of his big white truck. "I just wish I knew what directio= n=20 they're heading in," he says. "They're not telling us much. . . . We're not= =20 so sure they care about us or the customers anymore." ?????Edison Lacks Enough Veteran Linemen ?????This is bad news for anyone in Edison territory. The utility can't=20 afford to alienate its veteran linemen because there aren't enough to go=20 around. Journeymen are in short supply, drawing big signing bonuses and=20 promises of generous overtime. Edison was trying to hire more than 100 when= =20 the financial crisis hit last summer. Now it faces the triple whammy of a= =20 hiring freeze, low morale and overtime pay cuts that could set off an exodu= s=20 of talent.=20 ?????Already, there have been some defections, including several to the flu= sh=20 cross-town rival, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Lopez and= =20 other veterans remain loyal, but they're checking the Internet, just in cas= e.=20 "Everybody's depressed, bummed out," he says. Ernie Lopez now spends more time with his family in Chino Hills. Cutbacks a= t=20 Edison have meant less overtime for linemen. BRIAN WALSKI / Los Angeles Times ?????Linemen like to see themselves as roughneck heroes, riding into town t= o=20 turn on the lights, to help the kitty out of the tree. Many are loners,=20 outsiders, proud of their cowboy culture. They don't tend to move up to=20 office jobs. They prefer to be out in the field. They are well paid, but wh= at=20 many love even more are the small signs of gratitude, the cup of coffee fro= m=20 a customer, the sound of applause when the lights go back on.=20 ?????"We don't do it for the money. We do it for the glory," says Lopez,=20 almost serious.=20 ?????Along with weathered faces and fallen arches from standing astride=20 poles, most linemen have developed a rigid sense of civic duty. It is what= =20 makes them leave a warm bed and barge into a downpour at 3 a.m. They've=20 missed birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas with the kids for their jobs.=20 Every one of them has stories, of working through hurricanes, ice storms an= d=20 earthquakes. Some have been close to death. Some have watched other linemen= =20 die.=20 ?????"Our whole careers have been designed to provide people with power, no= t=20 cut it off," says Pat Lavin, a veteran Edison lineman, now business agent f= or=20 the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 47. "I think our= =20 members would probably offer to work for free if they thought it would help= .=20 They like working for Edison. It's a pride thing." ?????Team Spirit Takes a Hit ?????You see this ethos in Kansas City, home of the International Lineman's= =20 Rodeo. Every September, hundreds of utility field-worker teams pour in from= =20 as far as Jamaica and England to test their skills and stamina against othe= r=20 linemen.=20 ?????They scramble up wooden poles in seconds, replace transformers and=20 rescue "hurt man" dummies from the wires. In one event that tests focus as= =20 well as strength and dexterity, a lineman climbs a 45-foot pole holding the= =20 handle of a bucket in his teeth. In the bucket is an egg. At the top, the= =20 lineman ties the bucket to a wire, puts the egg in his mouth and climbs bac= k=20 down, taking care not to bite. ?????Last year, Edison's senior team--45 years and older--placed fourth out= =20 of 213. It was a huge coup and a career highlight for team member Joe Baker= ,=20 a crew foreman and 25-year Edison veteran working out of the Barstow office= .=20 His parents came down from Iowa to watch. His wife and son--an Edison=20 apprentice--were cheering from the bleachers. Baker had been training for= =20 months, and was in top form. "If you look at the scores," he notes, "you'll= =20 see that we were awfully close to first." ?????He might have made it to the top this year, but Edison won't be sendin= g=20 linemen to Kansas City in September. The rodeo team is one more casualty of= =20 the California crisis. ?????Seven months after his big win, Baker watches as pieces of Barstow go= =20 dark. Planned blackouts sweep across the southern part of the state for the= =20 first time since World War II. Traffic lights blink off; drivers skid into= =20 intersections. Manufacturing lines stop cold. Root canals go unfinished.=20 Customers call, confused and angry. They see the men in the white trucks an= d=20 wonder, are they pulling the switch? ?????"Today I went into a grocery store. I had on an Edison hat," Baker sai= d=20 in early April. "The store manager, who's a friend of mine, says, 'Is it sa= fe=20 to wear that around here?' He wasn't joking. These days, people look at you= =20 funny, like it's all your fault." ?????Union Opposed Deregulation Plan ?????For decades, Edison's linemen enjoyed a strong safety record,=20 top-of-the-line equipment and lifetime job security. Then came=20 deregulation--a concept that the linemen's union opposed long before the 19= 96=20 state law was adopted, convinced it would destabilize their lives. ?????They were downsized. Their jobs were contracted out or given to=20 temporary workers. They felt exposed and vulnerable. As early as 1998, an= =20 Edison veteran warned on a linemen's Web site: "All you guys, look out when= =20 deregulation comes your way. . . . SCE is still good, but not like the old= =20 days." ?????Among the 2,000 jobs Edison cut in January were hundreds of contracted= =20 linemen working on large construction projects. Veteran linemen absorbed hu= ge=20 losses in their half-million-dollar retirement accounts based on Edison sto= ck. Joe Baker, a 25-year Edison veteran who works in Barstow, says he's noticed= a=20 change in public attitude since power crisis began. BRIAN WALSKI / Los Angeles Times ?????The utility was on the TV news every night. Linemen began spending mor= e=20 time with customers, explaining, defending. They blamed the state regulator= s=20 who set up the dysfunctional market and the energy suppliers who took=20 advantage and reaped huge profits, but they also wondered: Why isn't the=20 company doing more to get the facts out? Why isn't it being more aggressive= ? ?????In February, the union launched its own campaign, organizing a protest= =20 march at a Huntington Beach generating plant owned by AES, a giant=20 Texas-based energy wholesaler. The message was that Edison was the victim o= f=20 gouging by the generators. But what motorists saw as they drove by were ang= ry=20 picketers at a power plant, wearing Edison hats and jackets. Victim and=20 villain were confused. The problem was too complex to fit on a placard. No= =20 more protests are planned. ?????Soon after Edison's belt-tightening, the electrical workers union file= d=20 objections with the state Public Utilities Commission, arguing that the=20 layoffs and overtime restrictions would seriously reduce the level of servi= ce=20 in Edison territory--a violation of PUC rules. ?????Two months later, the PUC agreed and ordered Edison to restore jobs an= d=20 hours that could affect service. By then, some linemen argued, it was too= =20 late. "The customers will remember we weren't there for them," says Lopez, = a=20 longtime union activist and an officer of Local 47. ?????Even after the PUC ruling, overtime restrictions for routine work=20 continue to cut linemen's pay by at least 20%, far more in some cases. It's= a=20 traumatic loss for those who have grown accustomed to fat checks, and to=20 nearly doubling their base pay of about $65,000. ?????"For someone with no college degree, earning six figures is not bad,"= =20 says Russ Neal, a supervisor in the Santa Ana distribution center. "But kee= p=20 in mind, this job is hard on personal lives. A lot of these guys are paying= =20 ex-wives, child support. They're not all choosing between a boat and a=20 camper." ?????For some, the change has been a partial blessing. Elite "troublemen"= =20 like Lopez, who are the first on the scene of an outage, get to sleep throu= gh=20 the night, spend more time with their children and read them bedtime storie= s. ?????"Having Dad home has been wonderful," says Peggy Lopez, Ernie's wife o= f=20 20 years. "We have a son, and there's been a lot of bonding lately." ?????But they all miss what the linemen call blood money. The Lopez family = is=20 scaling back on weekend trips and dinners out. Peggy wonders whether she'll= =20 need to go back to work after staying home for 11 years with her two=20 children. Nine-year-old Albert is in tears after a day of teasing at school= :=20 Your dad's going to lose his job, the kids taunt. ?????"We hadn't shared with the children how serious it was," says Peggy.= =20 "Afterward, he and Ernie had that talk. Now we just pray that things get=20 worked out." ?????Job-wise, Edison's linemen are probably safe, no matter what happens.= =20 After all, someone has to keep the power going, even through bankruptcy or= =20 state ownership. Still, it's unsettling. Linemen who were once disciplined= =20 for accidentally tripping brief outages are now ordered to cut off customer= s=20 for an hour at a stretch. They're nervous and distracted. They want this=20 crisis to end, but see no end in sight. Supervisors worry about their=20 linemen's ability to concentrate, to stay focused. After all, in this job, = a=20 moment's carelessness can be deadly. ?????"It's important that we talk to them more and let them vent a little,"= =20 says Bob Woods, who manages Edison's Santa Ana operating center. "When you= =20 read that your company is on the verge of bankruptcy, it's frightening. We= =20 don't want them thinking about that out in the field." ?????Into Woods' office walks Paul Miller, a clean-cut 34-year-old=20 troubleman, earnest, eager. He's been with the company 15 years. His job is= =20 to make the scene safe, restore as much power as possible, then call in the= =20 regular field crews for heavy-duty work. ?????He's out a lot on weekend nights, when drunk drivers tend to knock dow= n=20 poles. He's busy when the weather is lousy. He missed Christmas with his wi= fe=20 and toddler son last year when winds blew lines down all over north Orange= =20 County. Woods called him in for a 12-hour day, along with the station's 11= =20 other troublemen. "I didn't hear one complaint," Woods says. ?????Miller is so proud of his job that he had his name embroidered on his= =20 khaki Edison uniform, along with that odd title, Troubleman. He hopes to=20 retire from Edison someday. He hasn't had to walk away from a job, not yet.= =20 But it bothered him when he was sent to a Santa Ana apartment building that= =20 had been without power all night.=20 ?????"They were pretty unhappy. Nobody's used to that kind of service. We'v= e=20 always been right there. . . . I can't stand it, actually, leaving people= =20 off." Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= --- ------------------------------------------------------------------ EDISON'S AGONY Utility's Workers Watch Helplessly as?Company Falls Energy: Proud engineers and technicians, wincing as the firm is pilloried,= =20 blame deregulation rules. Firm was "dragged into this kicking and screaming= ,"=20 one says. By NANCY CLEELAND, Times Staff Writer "I'd cry if I had any more emotion." John Ballance keeper of Southern?California Edison's transmission and=20 distribution grid for most of he past 32 years. ?????There are hundreds of them at Southern California Edison--engineers an= d=20 technicians hired a generation ago at the height of California's=20 build-and-grow frenzy. Steady Eddies. Methodical thinkers. ?????They designed massive things like nuclear reactors and gas-fired=20 generators and kept electrons flowing over 50,000 square miles of territory= .=20 They did their jobs so well that no one ever noticed. ?????For more than 100 years their precise, problem-solving nature defined= =20 Edison culture, and distinguished the company as one of the country's most= =20 highly regarded utilities. ?????Then came deregulation, which eventually cut the financial guts out of= =20 Edison, creating a crisis solvable only by political consensus. ?????For once the engineers were stumped. Mathematical logic no longer=20 served. They lacked the intangibles--the finesse, the gifts of spin and=20 horse-trading--to put their company back together. ?????Today they draw up intricate plans to salvage the company, but the pla= ns=20 go nowhere with regulators and politicians. ?????The world hates and blames Edison, and the engineers cannot understand= =20 why. They brandish the truth--Blame a flawed deregulation system, not us!--= as=20 if it might redeem them. Yet each week finds them more marginalized.=20 Bewildered, some have been reduced to waiting, with nothing to do but watch= =20 their legacy disintegrate. It's a cruel way to end a career that was built = on=20 long-term planning and the power of rational thought. ?????"I'd cry if I had any more emotion," says John Ballance, keeper of=20 Edison's transmission and distribution grid for most of the last 32 years. ?????He is a soft-spoken, church-volunteering grandfather with twinkling ey= es=20 and a navy blue cardigan. Mr. Rogers with a slide rule. He was hired in the= =20 late 1960s straight out of UC Berkeley, where he played clarinet in the=20 marching band. Edison brought him back to his hometown. It was a dream job. ?????Now 53, Ballance still gets excited thinking about the highlights: tha= t=20 hot early summer when he installed six temporary transformers in a weekend = to=20 avoid blackouts. That post-earthquake scramble when he guided crews to=20 restore a substation that powered Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Seven= =20 years later, he remembers every detail: 23 lines tripped at 4:17 a.m., all= =20 back up by 12:30 p.m. ?????"It was a good day when you had a problem come up that wasn't=20 anticipated but you had a contingency plan for it, and it worked," he says= =20 nostalgically. ?????No one anticipated this: Edison on the verge of bankruptcy. And so far= ,=20 none of the contingency plans has worked. ?????By early January, Edison has had to pay so much money to power=20 wholesalers that it owes several billion dollars and is bleeding nearly $20= =20 million more a day. Each time a customer turns on a light or a computer or = a=20 hair dryer, the debt grows. ?????Here's what passes for humor at utility headquarters in suburban=20 Rosemead, 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles: When you lose money on eve= ry=20 kilowatt, you don't make it up in volume. ?????Edison defaults on loans and suspends its dividends for the first time= =20 in its history. Creditors threaten to haul it=20 Edison engineer John Ballance, left, with systems operator Kenneth House,= =20 never dreamed the firm would be on the brink of bankruptcy. ??Photos by BRIAN WALSKI /=20 Los Angeles Times into bankruptcy court. Budgets are slashed, and nearly 2,000 employees get= =20 pink slips. More than 100 executives work a week for free. ?????"It's very depressing," says Donald Fellows, who once designed power= =20 plants and is now reduced to feeding numbers to the state commission that= =20 sets utility rates. "Most people go to work for a utility because they have= =20 high security needs. You don't find a lot of risk takers here." ?????A large, balding man with a penchant for mirthful sarcasm and a tenden= cy=20 to answer questions by pulling out a calculator, Fellows becomes downright= =20 grumpy when talking about his current job: manager of revenues and tariffs. ?????Pure frustration, he huffs. He spends far too much time in hearing=20 rooms, listening to "self-serving drivel" from Edison's many critics and=20 second-guessers, who seem to pass right over the numbers Fellows so=20 meticulously gathers. ?????In his view, state regulators micro-managed Edison into this mess, by= =20 forcing it to buy power on the volatile spot market. Wholesale prices=20 exploded, from 3 to 30 cents a kilowatt. Now the people who made the rules= =20 are blaming Edison for letting it happen. And getting away with it. ?????"You sit in those hearings and sometimes it's like Alice in Wonderland= ,=20 the way things get twisted," he says. "You look around and wonder: Did I fa= ll=20 into a trapdoor?" ?????He is just back from a Public Utilities Commission meeting in San=20 Francisco, where he pleads Edison's case for a 30% rate hike. Nothing less= =20 will keep the utility solvent, he warns. ?????Consumer advocates are hostile, suspicious. The commission compromises= =20 by raising rates about 10%. Edison's stock plunges, at one point losing hal= f=20 its value in a few hours of trading. Credit agencies downgrade its investme= nt=20 rating to just above junk status. Banks suspend corporate credit cards. ?????Fellows, who put in 28 mostly good years at Edison, loses the bonus th= at=20 was nearly half his salary last year. He looks at his worthless stock optio= ns=20 and wonders whether he can still afford that early retirement in May, when = he=20 turns 55. And if so, should he take it? Is it right to walk away? ?????Panicked Retirees Flood Firm With Calls ?????The winter passes in a painful fog of uncertainty across the bland=20 1970s-era Edison complex, home to 4,000 engineers, lawyers, managers and=20 clerks. Employees keep their heads down, but they cannot escape the crisis. ?????It jumps out from the cafeteria entrance, where a posting advertises= =20 brown-bag sessions on resume writing and interview techniques. It startles= =20 them every evening at 5, when a too-loud recorded voice warns that power wi= ll=20 soon shut down to emergency levels. Television crews camp outside, lining u= p=20 for live shots every few hours. Employees pray for other breaking news,=20 anything to take them off the front page for a while. Managers cut budgets,= =20 look for expendable jobs. Public relations spokesmen set up a SWAT team to= =20 deal with all the calls. ?????Jo Ann Goddard, parent company Edison International's vice president f= or=20 investor relations, fields calls from dozens of panicked retirees. One=20 80-year-old man, who lost a fourth of his income when dividends were=20 suspended, calls every week for an update. He always takes time to ask how= =20 she's holding up. ?????Pam Bass, Southern California Edison's vice president for customer=20 relations, takes flak from angry business owners in the state-regulated=20 "interruptibles" program, which was designed to handle rare emergencies. Fo= r=20 weeks now, the businesses have had to shut down several hours a day. Some= =20 have lost millions and laid off entire shifts. ?????As the company's value dives, it takes down children's college funds,= =20 vacation dreams, early starts on retirement. Yet many engineers are even mo= re=20 troubled by the steep erosion of service. ?????Ballance is close to tears as he guts his construction budget, canceli= ng=20 orders and contracts that were eagerly placed just six months earlier. This= =20 was going to be a big year, a chance to fix Edison's aging collection of=20 poles, substations and wires. ?????He hesitates, scarcely believing what he is about to say: "We're=20 knowingly taking on risk. . . . If we get extreme temperatures this summer,= =20 only a few pockets out could cause serious problems." ?????Through his office window, he looks out on a trail of hulking=20 transmission towers marching toward the horizon, a solid, sturdy bit of=20 evidence that Edison is still the proud source of power for Southern=20 California. What he doesn't know is that the lines themselves will soon be= =20 caught up in the energy debacle. ?????An Odd Sense of Hope and Mission ?????Along with nail-biting anxiety, January brings an odd sense of hope an= d=20 mission to Edison headquarters. State and federal legislators are finally= =20 paying attention, trying to understand what happened. Auditors are going=20 through the books. Gov. Gray Davis says he will consider a state plan to=20 rescue California's private utilities, but with a daunting pair of=20 parameters--no utility bankruptcies and no rate increases. ?????Edison must analyze hundreds of contract, rate and transmission-cost= =20 variables--months of work--within a couple of days. At last the problem=20 solvers have something to sink their teeth into. ?????"I've seen this time and again over the 21 years I've worked here," sa= ys=20 an optimistic Charles Basham, who runs Edison's internal Web site and=20 considers himself its unofficial historian. "We work best in a crisis." ?????Corridors that thread past gray cubicles and into wood-paneled executi= ve=20 offices are strangely silent. No gossip around the water coolers. No shriek= s=20 of exasperation. Just lots of conference calls and long nights with cold=20 pizza and coffee. ?????Alan J. Fohrer, who helped design the San Onofre nuclear plant, has co= me=20 back to help. These days he runs Irvine-based Edison Mission Energy, a=20 fast-growing, unregulated sister company to Southern California Edison that= =20 owns and operates generating plants around the world. ?????Fohrer's wife is out of town. At dawn he dashes home to Arcadia to wak= e=20 his kids before they notice he's gone, make their lunches and get them off = to=20 school. Then he rushes back for another day of calculations. ?????After 36 hours, Fohrer wears a tentative smile. There is a way--if a= =20 series of events falls perfectly in line--to pay off Edison's debts without= =20 raising rates. ?????"We have an opportunity," says the 50-year-old executive, laying out a= ll=20 the little pieces. "But we have to move quickly. The problem gets bigger=20 every day." ?????Weeks pass. Fohrer's plan becomes moot because state legislative=20 proposals keep adding demands: Edison must hand over a chunk of company=20 stock. Or all of its prized hydroelectric system. Or its valuable=20 transmission lines. These ideas come and go, almost whimsically, without ev= er=20 taking solid form. The urgency that once distracted Edison employees=20 dissolves into a numbing sense of powerlessness. ?????Fohrer--intense, serious, focused, a veteran of the 1990s deregulation= =20 debate, when he says most of his ideas were ignored--struggles for words to= =20 describe his frustration, then finally sputters, "This is silly." ?????He graduated from USC in 1973 with a degree in civil engineering. He= =20 dreamed of designing huge, complex structures like oil refineries, and talk= ed=20 to all the major international firms. Then Edison courted him, and Fohrer w= as=20 charmed. Edison was at the tail end of a five-year hiring binge, ramping up= =20 to design and build dozens of new power plants for the fast-growing state. ?????The expansion didn't last long. Inflation hit, raising the cost of=20 construction. The Arab oil embargo struck, straining supplies and making=20 conservation look like a good idea. The Three Mile Island nuclear plant=20 leaked radiation, setting off a fierce antinuclear backlash. Edison built= =20 only two generators after 1973. ?????None of that compares to the current mess, says John L. Jurewitz, an= =20 economist and Edison's manager of regulatory policy. Like many veterans, he= =20 knows precisely when it started: April 1994, when the PUC announced that it= =20 was moving to an open retail market. ?????"Starting at that point," Jurewitz says, "we were in damage control=20 mode." ?????Edison executives worked with state legislators to fashion the 1996=20 state law that became the framework for restructuring. But Ballance, Fohrer= ,=20 Jurewitz and others directly involved in those talks insist that what they= =20 lobbied for was a far cry from what was later implemented. ?????They want the world to know that, as Fellows puts it, "the utility was= =20 dragged into this kicking and screaming." They highlight passages and fax= =20 reports and letters dating back to 1993. ?????But the old papers are dense and complicated. Southern California=20 Edison--big, familiar, accessible--continues to be a target. ?????The engineers shout at the television. They cringe at the morning=20 newspaper. They riffle through their files to find the old documents that= =20 will prove their point. But by then it's too late. The media, the=20 politicians, the public have moved from one oversimplified idea to the next= . ?????And these consumer advocates! ?????"How do they get coverage so easy just because they sound good?" asks= =20 Danny Haberern, an engineer who lost his Illinois railroad job when the lin= e=20 went bankrupt, then fled to a "safe," regulated utility. He's now district= =20 supervisor in Edison's Montebello center. "I don't get it." ?????Edison is getting bundles of hate mail. Edison is the butt of shock=20 radio programs. Edison employees are being snubbed at their children's=20 basketball games. ?????It's not our fault, they say, a little too desperately. We never wante= d=20 to sell our power plants. We asked for long-term contracts four years ago. = We=20 pleaded for a rate hike in December. When we ran the system, it never faile= d. ?????Facing the new market, Edison slashed its staff through a series of=20 layoffs and voluntary retirements in the mid-1990s. In 1998, to comply with= =20 deregulation, it sold 12 gas-fired power plants and bought the electricity= =20 back through a state-supervised market where prices fluctuate daily. ?????Other retailers are invited to jump in and compete, but retail=20 competition never materializes in force, and prices do not drop but soar. B= y=20 last December, it is clear that the market is dysfunctional. Under the=20 deregulation law, Edison cannot respond by raising rates. By the end of the= =20 year, the utility is out of cash and comes within a filament of cutting pow= er=20 to customers. ?????Back in the old days, John Ballance could make a troubled generator=20 continue running if the grid needed juice. He could get on the phone and te= ll=20 the manager, "You'll just have to hang on for a few hours, until we get pas= t=20 the peak." And it would happen. ?????Now those same plants go offline whenever the new owners say, and all= =20 the begging in the world won't bring them back. ?????In February an international energy firm, PA Management Group, names= =20 Edison the most reliable utility in the Western region, based on 1999=20 figures. The veterans chuckle. They know it will be many years before Ediso= n=20 is lauded for reliability again. They try not to think about it, gathered i= n=20 the cafeteria, graying heads bent over the tortilla soup. ?????"It used to be something to be proud of, to work for the utility," say= s=20 John R. Fielder, 56, a senior vice president for regulation, who once=20 directed Edison's information technology team. ?????"There was an ethic and an attitude, being good citizens, financially= =20 healthy, part of the communities we serve," he says. "Now people don't=20 understand. They wonder, 'How did you let this happen?
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