Saturday, December 9, 2000 Prepare for Dark While It's Still Light

Power: State utilities urge consumers to get ready for rolling blackouts, which may be inevitable if grid is strained.

By KATHY M. KRISTOF, Times Staff Writer

Prepare for dark. California utilities are warning that the state's electric power grid is so stretched that rolling blackouts are becoming increasingly likely. As more and more people flip on the holiday lights, consumers may find themselves inadvertently and suddenly left in the dark. Utilities are urging customers to conserve--both to save on power bills and to reduce strain on the beleaguered grid. At the same time, they say, prepare for power outages. What should you do to prepare? How can you best manage a blackout with the least wear and tear on your electrical equipment and your family? And how might you conserve?

Power Outage Preparedness * Know your power weaknesses. Sure, you know that you'd lose lights if the electric power goes out, but what about your ability to make dinner or a phone call? Cordless phones won't function if you lose power. Make sure you have at least one phone with a cord that you can plug into a phone jack to call for help in an outage should the need arise.

Also consider whether your ability to warm your house or feed your family would be affected by a loss of power. Food is no problem because you have a gas stove or oven, you say? Check the pilot light. Many recent-model gas ranges and ovens have electric pilot lights. If yours does, find the camp stove or stock up on cold cereal, fruits and tasty raw vegetables. Check your furnace and water heater, too. If they'll go out when the power is down, be prepared with plenty of warm clothes and blankets. * Find the flashlights and camping equipment. If you have battery-powered camp lanterns, flashlights and lamps, now is the time to dust them off and check their batteries. Consider putting one in a central area, as well as one in each bedroom, so no one will be left completely in the dark. * If you have power-driven health equipment, make sure you have contacted your power company. Most power companies want life-support patients to register with them. Some, including Southern California Edison, have advised these customers to have backup power available. SCE, an arm of Edison International, will not provide backup power, but the utility can provide advice about what equipment is needed. * Get surge protectors. If you haven't already done so, it's wise to get them for your computer equipment and regularly back up any information on your hard drive that you want saved.

Handling an Outage If the power grid becomes overloaded, "rolling" power outages may be unavoidable, says Steven Conroy, a spokesman for SCE. The utility expects power to be off no longer than an hour or two. But consumers should be prepared for longer blackouts just in case. A few things to do: * Turn the switches off. Where possible, turn off the switches on computers, televisions and lights that you had been using when the power went off. This will not only help safeguard your electrical equipment from power surges when the lights come back but also help the power company get its systems back online with fewer glitches. When everyone leaves switches on, it creates a huge demand for power as the grid is coming up, which makes it more difficult for utilities to bring consumers back on line, Conroy says. Just leave one light on, so you'll know when the blackout has ended.

* Remember that candles can cause fires. Use flashlights and battery-powered lanterns whenever possible--particularly when you want to leave a light unattended. * Don't barbecue indoors. Charcoal briquettes produce carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless killer. Certainly, you can barbecue your meals if your stove won't work, but leave the grill outside, regardless of the weather. * Bundle up. If your heating system goes out on a cold night, make sure you have enough blankets and consider wearing wool hats and mittens to stay warm if the temperatures go really low. * Keep the fridge and freezer doors closed. A fully stocked freezer will stay at freezing temperature for up to two days without power. If it's half-full, it will stay cold for about half as long. But if you open the doors, the temperature will rise much faster. Leave the doors closed and your food will stay good far longer.

Conservation Tips * Turn out the lights. You know this, but it's more important than ever to shut off lights and turn off TVs, computers and other electrical equipment when they are not in use. * Set timers on holiday lights. Quell the urge to snap them on the moment you get home, Edison's Conroy urges. Peak electricity usage is from 5 to 7 p.m., so if you wait to turn on the holiday lights until 8, you'll help drastically reduce the strain on the power grid. Also, set a timer to get those lights turned off automatically so you don't forget and waste kilowatt-hours. * Adjust the thermostat. Get used to wearing sweaters in the winter and T-shirts in the summer, so that your heating and cooling systems do less work. Also consider lowering the heat dramatically at night when you're snuggled under the covers and during the day when you're at work.

* Consider replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescents. Fluorescent lighting uses a fraction of the energy of incandescent lightbulbs while delivering a similar amount of light. Although fluorescent bulbs are more costly, they also can last 10 times as long as an average incandescent bulb, so the trade-off may be worth your while in this era of rising energy prices.

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Wall Street Hammers Edison, PG&E Shares of Edison International, parent of Southern California Edison, and PG&E Corp., parent of Pacific Gas & Electric, have tumbled in recent weeks as investors have fretted over the costs the companies are bearing in the state's power crisis. Story, C3

* * * Daily closes for Edison International and PG&E on the New York Stock Exchange:

* * * Edison International Friday: $20.44, down $1.00

* * * PG&E Friday: $23.56, down $1.38

* * * Source: Bloomberg News, Times research

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 10, 2000