Consumer group report questions need for Sunrise power line

By Keith Darce
San Diego Union-Tribune May 31, 2007

SAN DIEGO - An electricity transmission line that San Diego Gas & Electric wants to build across Anza-Borrego Desert State Park isn't needed and will be far more costly to ratepayers than the utility has estimated, according to a draft report by a consumers' group.

The Utility Consumers' Action Network plans to file the final version of its written testimony with state utility regulators tomorrow.

San Diego-based UCAN wants the California Public Utilities Commission to turn down SDG&E's request for permission to build the 150-mile, high-voltage line to carry power from Imperial County across San Diego County's back country to fast-growing communities in the North County and coastal region.

The region's largest rate advocacy group says SDG&E customers would end up paying $760 million more for the Sunrise Powerlink than the $6.24 billion in costs projected for 40 years following the construction

The utility and supporters of the project, which include numerous business groups, say Sunrise is needed to carry power from planned renewable energygenerators in Imperial County.

Some critics believe the lines also would be used to transport electricity from a pair of newly constructed fossil-fuel generators located just across the U.S.-Mexico border.

UCAN says SDG&E skewed its analysis of the project to make it look more economically favorable and necessary to meet the county's future electricity needs. The group says the utility also overlooked numerous alternatives, such as the upgrade of existing transmission lines and construction of new natural gas power plants in the county, that would provided enough electricity to the county through at least 2018.

"The utility has misled regulators and the public about costs, overstated the need for the project and has ignored smarter, more economical alternatives," according to the draft testimony.