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A Power Crisis and a Power Play by Editors The Oregonian, December 17, 2000

Energy summit should focus on immediate help for California,
and long-term need for more power generation

When electricity providers, elected officials and other Western leaders gather for a summit Tuesday on the regional power crisis, the first thing they should do is turn down the political thermostat.

There's altogether too much energy being wasted arguing about who's getting a better deal for their electricity, who's responsible for the crisis in California, and who is or isn't doing their part to resolve it.

The plain truth is, California brought much of this on itself. Nevertheless, the crisis demands a coordinated response from states and power producers throughout the West.

Friday, the federal government moved to control the skyrocketing prices in California by ordering "soft" price caps on wholesale rates, and by allowing the state's investor-owned utilities to keep the power they generate rather than be forced to sell it on the open market. Those two actions temporarily roll back key elements of California's 1996 utility deregulation, which triggered the crisis.

Those moves, plus a general warming trend throughout the West, should forestall the threat of rolling blackouts in California. They also give the participants in Tuesday's summit time to find a coordinated plan to face the entire region's energy shortage.

At the moment, electricity demand in the fast-growing West is threatening to outrun supply. Analysts say it will be two years before substantial new power generation is available in the West.

It's important that policymakers recommit to supporting the Western power grid, basically a good system for sharing power -- filling the Northwest's needs in cold winter months, and California's thirst for electricity to run air conditioners in the summer.

Western governors, including Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, have called for price caps on wholesale electricity. The "soft" caps that the federal government ordered instead let the price of electricity float above $150 per megawatt hour only if electricity suppliers file paperwork with the government defending the higher price. The feds hope the soft caps will deter the wholesalers exploiting the crisis. If not, tougher limits may be necessary.

One last point: California should stop using the crisis as an excuse to attack the Northwest for its low-cost power, and to demand a larger share of electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration. The Northwest answered California's plea for electricity recently, as it has many times in the past.

A power shortage isn't helped by a power struggle.