Looters poised as power cuts hit California John Harlow, Los Angeles

CALIFORNIAN shopkeepers are bracing themselves for a wave of electricity blackouts this week by recruiting squads of armed security guards to protect them from potential looters and arsonists.

The San Francisco chamber of commerce and other northern Californian organisations representing small businessmen have advised their members to take "all possible precautions" in the face of a series of 90-minute power cuts planned by the state's power regulator.

Staggered cuts across California, the sixth-wealthiest region in the world, began five days ago and will continue this week to avoid a total collapse of the state grid under pressure from everincreasing consumer and business demand.

The Californian power network, privatised in 1996, has been unable to cope after failing to replace ageing power plants that were unable to comply with clean air laws and a 10% increase in demand for power during a decade of sharp economic growth. It has all been made worse by managerial and political blunders.

The crisis is seen as a test of leadership for Gray Davis, the Democrat governor of California, who is tipped as a potential presidential candidate for 2004. Davis has approved a $400m emergency funding package to import power from other states. But officials said power cuts would probably still be necessary this week.

The cuts began last Wednesday when 675,000 people suddenly found themselves without electricity. There was panic as office workers were trapped in lifts, electric shop doors jammed and large swaths of Silicon Valley were left without power to run millions of computers.

The problems are expected to intensify tomorrow when Pacific Gas & Electric Co, which provides nearly a third of the state's electricity, is due to file for bankruptcy protection from its creditors. The plants will still run, but at vastly reduced capacity as suppliers demand cash payments.

The regulator refuses to give notice of blackouts for fear of alerting looters. Andre Mena, manager of the Carl's Junior hamburger restaurant in Sacramento, said: "We are taught in the United States that we have it all. Now we are finding that, like the rest of the world, we are at the mercy of nature and human error. It is a shock to the system."

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/01/21/stifgnusa02005.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 21, 2001