SDG&E Accused Of Using Scare Tactics During Heat Wave

NBCSanDiego.com
September 5, 2007

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SAN DIEGO -- Did San Diego Gas & Electric use the recent heat wave to drum up support for a proposed and controversial power line? One consumer advocacy group is saying yes, NBC 7/39 reported.

During the Labor Day holiday weekend, thousands of people found themselves in the dark, after high temperatures knocked out transformers. SDG & E officials said they contacted local news stations, asking for conservation, to avoid further problems.

"What we had on Monday, on Labor Day -- on a holiday -- was a very real system emergency," spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan told NBC 7/39.

"We were on the edge and that's why we knew we needed to get the message out to customers to conserve as early as we could," she said.

Asking people to conserve is not unexpected, but some consumer advocates said the utility company exploited the situation by overstating what was really happening.

Michael Shames of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, or UCAN, said when SDG & E called the crisis a "staged emergency" or mentioned the threat of "rolling blackouts," they were overstepping their bounds. Shames said those official standards are not decided by local power companies, but by state officials.

Only the California Independent System Operator can call for rolling blackouts and staged emergencies.

"They had enough power but the transformers in certain areas couldn't handle the demand," he said.

Critics believe the utility company may have been attempting to drum up support for the controversial Sunrise Powerlink Project. The project involves a proposed 150-mile power line that would run from El Centro through the Anza-Borrego Desert, across Ramona and into parts of San Diego. The line would cost about $1.3 billion.

SDG&E officials insist the county would benefit from the power line by helping to lower energy costs, cutting back on greenhouse emissions, improving energy reliability in the region and to expanding access to clear, renewable energy sources.

SDG & E has recently asked the state power commission to reconsider a ruling that would delay approval of a massive power line project for five months.

Sunrise Powerlink Ruling

As far as the holiday weekend, Donovan told NBC 7/39 the utility was in no way attempting to cause alarm.

"We recognize there is that fine line between informing and alarming customers. And we certainly don't want to alarm customers, we want to make them aware of a potential crisis."

"I think the focus on the words used or the terminology is perhaps not as important as what the outcome could have been had we not gotten the message out as quickly as we did and not had the positive response," she said.

When NBC 7/39 was called by SDG & E on Monday, the spokesman did not use the words, "rolling blackout" or "Stage 2 emergency." However, the Associated Press reports they were told there was need for immediate energy conservation or else there would be rolling blackouts.