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Chill could pinch power supply One official says we�ll �squeak by� Staff and wire reports Cold Northwest weather could cause an energy crisis, force utilities into an electricity crunch and compel them to activate a system calling for increased generation and voluntary cutbacks in energy use. As of now, energy officials say enough electricity should be available to handle a cold snap expected to hit next week. "It will be extremely tight, but we should be able to squeak by," said Rich Nassief, director of the Northwest Power Pool, which coordinates power operations for utilities in the Northwest and western Canada. Preventing water damage With nighttime temperatures expected to dip well below freezing level next week, the Medford Water Commission warns homeowners to take precautions now against water damage. Local forecasts call for north winds to usher cold air into the valley early Monday. Throw in some moisture, and it may snow. According to the water commission, homeowners can take these steps to prevent frozen pipes: Keep the house warm, especially rooms with plumbing fixtures. Seal up crawl-space vents under the house. Plan ahead and have cardboard or foam ready to put in place. Disconnect all outdoor hoses. Drain underground sprinkler systems. Insulate exposed exterior pipes and pipes in other unheated locations. Identify the main water shut-off valve in case of a line break. According to the National Weather Service, homeowners may have the weekend to prepare for a possible cold snap. Fog that blanketed most of the valley this week is expected to clear out tonight as a high pressure ridge moves off the Oregon coast. With the fog gone, nighttime temperatures could reach down into the 20s, according to the weather service office in Medford. Daytime high temperatures are expected to remain in the 40s this weekend, but may fall into the mid-30s Monday and early next week. According to the weather service, rain early next week could turn to snow if the timing is right. Pacific Power, which supplies electricity to Medford and the Rogue Valley, may fare better than other utilities if an emergency develops because it owns most of its own power sources, company spokesman Dave Kvamme said. Kvamme said Pacific Power owns power plants and dams that generate about 90 percent of the power it sells. Other utilities must buy more of their power from other sources, which have little spare electricity to sell. Kvamme said about 58 percent of Pacific Power�s 96,700 residential customers in Southern Oregon use electricity to heat their homes. About 38,000 homes in Jackson County and about 18,500 in Jose-phine County are heated electrically, either by heat pumps or resistance heaters. A team will meet today to decide on any emergency action in the Northwest. If a new, three-tiered alert plan is activated, it could include public appeals to cut back on energy use. Likely suggestions: restrict Christmas tree and other holiday lighting and turn down thermostats several degrees. "We�re on the ragged edge" of a shortage, said Ed Mosey, a spokesman for the Bonneville Power Administration. Several years ago, economic growth and an accompanying jump in demand for electricity began pushing the region closer to potential shortages. Now there�s little cushion to absorb spikes in demand. Additional generation isn�t expected to be available until 2002 or later. California complicates the situation. Usually California uses less electricity in the winter months and sells surplus power to the Northwest. But this year, after a summer in which air conditioners rarely rested, much of the state�s generation has been taken down for repairs. Little, if any, extra power is available for export. Contrary to seasonal patterns, California is experiencing shortages of its own. Cold weather and off-line generation have forced the state to enact its own emergency plan. Earlier this week, the declaration of a Stage 2 emergency included requests to curb holiday lighting. Thursday a Stage 3 alert was issued. Here�s how the Northwest alert system would work, starting with the least serious level: Level 1: Utilities are told to put all generation into use and curtail any unnecessary power sales. They buy power on the wholesale market, no matter the cost. Level 2: "At this point, we�re definitely in an energy deficit situation," Nassief said. Utilities begin looking for ways to reduce electricity use, from curtailing power to businesses without guaranteed contracts to asking residential consumers to cut consumption. Level 3: "That�s when it hits the fan, so to speak," Nassief said. Utilities begin cutting power to businesses and households on a rotating basis. If power had to be cut, it would probably be for two-hour intervals. Kvamme, the Pacific Power spokesman, said the outages would be distributed across circuits fed by local substations. Several thousand customers on a circuit would lose power for two hours, then several thousand customers on another circuit would lose power for two hours. He noted Oregon has never experienced shortage-induced blackouts. This winter, fears of an energy crunch have pushed wholesale electricity prices through the roof. "Prices in general have really skyrocketed," said Marlene Huntsinger, head of power trading for Portland General Electric. Contracts to secure power through the balance of December have carried prices ranging from $900 to $1,300 a megawatt hour, she said. Utilities suffer when prices spike, because they must continue to sell much of their electricity under regulated rates of about $50 a megawatt hour. Energy watchers have their eyes on Monday through Wednesday, when lows between 15 and 20 degrees are predicted across much of the Northwest. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.