California ISO Issues Concurrent Stage One and Stage Two; Emergency Limited to Northern California Only Business Wire - Saturday, December 23, 2000

FOLSOM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 23, 2000--The California Independent System Operator (California ISO) declared Stage One and Stage Two Electrical Emergencies concurrently today, Saturday, December 23, 2000, at 12:00 a.m. in effect until 10:00 p.m. tonight. The emergencies were called after operating reserves in Northern California were forecast to dip below five percent. Californians are strongly encouraged to conserve electricity today. Today's forecasted peak demand is 30,484 megawatts at around 6:00 p.m.

As has been the case for much of the week, transmission constraints along the path of long-distance, high-voltage lines that link Northern and Southern California are making it difficult to get electricity to where it is needed. Because imports from the Northwest are down considerably, Northern California is drawing much of its power supply from Southern California, causing a bottleneck to occur along transmission Path 15.

The California ISO expects to manage reliability of the power grid without activating the voluntary interruptible load programs. Interruptible customers, mainly commercial and industrial users, receive a reduced rate in exchange for a commitment to come off line when asked to do so for reliability purposes.

A Stage Two Emergency is declared when operating reserves dip below five percent or are expected to within the next two hours. If an operating reserve shortfall of less than one-and-a-half percent is unavoidable, Stage Three will be initiated. Involuntary curtailments of service to customers, including "rotating blackouts," are possible during this emergency declaration. The California ISO's Electrical Emergency Plan (EEP) is part of the state's enhanced reliability standards created by landmark legislation Assembly Bill 1890, which restructured California's electricity industry.

California ISO is charged with managing the flow of electricity along the long-distance, high-voltage power lines that make up the bulk of California's transmission system. The not-for-profit public-benefit corporation assumed the responsibility in March 1998, when California opened its energy markets to competition and the state's investor-owned utilities turned their private transmission power lines over to the California ISO to manage. The mission of the California ISO is to safeguard the reliable delivery of electricity, facilitate markets and ensure equal access to a 12,500 circuit mile "electron highway."

Information about the California ISO control area's electricity supply and the current demand is available on the Web at www.caiso.com.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 23, 2000