Governor Steps In on Summer Conservation

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order July 27 mandating that several state agencies work together to implore consumers to conserve energy. The campaign will be led by the State and Consumer Services Agency in concert with the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of General Services. The move signaled a new Flex Your Power campaign, called Flex Your Power Now! It also reiterated the governor?s support of existing demand-response programs and his call issued last April to the California Public Utilities Commission to make way for the building of new power plants. The executive order was revealed during a meeting with the state?s major investor-owned and municipal utilities, as well as representatives from a dozen business groups, including the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, the California Business Roundtable, and the California Restaurant Association. The Flex Your Power Now! campaign plans to corral peak conservation aimed at energy-starved regions. It goes beyond the current carrot approach?paying for demand response?in hopes that appeals for voluntary conservation will prevent blackouts this summer. ?We?re putting into place what should be an ongoing alert system? that targets certain areas, said Wally McGuire, Flex Your Power coordinator. He said, for instance, that one of the areas targeted by the ?Now? campaign could be the San Fernando Valley. In that case, McGuire suggests the area?known for its adult movie industry?could cut strobe lights when conservation is needed. While McGuire said details are still being worked out with the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), he hopes the grid operator will be able to give the campaign 24 hours? notice prior to an expected Stage 1 alert. ?We can get on drive time and traffic reports, but we need 24 hours.? ?Sometimes we will have the ability? to give that notice, replied Gregg Fishman, CAISO spokesperson. ?We?re usually pretty accurate with a day-ahead load forecast, so if on a Monday we see resources looking pretty short compared to Tuesday?s load forecast, we issue the power watch on Monday evening. That triggers the Flex Your Power Now ads to run on Tuesday?which will hopefully have some impact on Tuesday?s peak load,? he said. Initially, the plans are to ask consumers to use appliances after 7 p.m. and to reduce use of lighting and air conditioning. Money for this campaign is not coming out of utilities? energy-efficiency funds, according to McGuire, so it will use the word ?conservation.? Currently, the Flex Your Power advertisements are restricted to the term ?energy efficiency? because that is the pot of funds from which the money for the ads is derived ( Circuit , April 16, 2004). Flex Your Power originated as a state-funded program created during the energy crisis with ubiquitous advertisements to persuade people to cut down on their energy use on a statewide, not regional, basis. The Flex Your Power Now! campaign is funded through Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison demand-response summer initiative programs authorized by state regulators on July 8. The marketing campaign for both PG&E and Edison was funded for a total of $3.85 million.

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Governor Steps In on Summer Conservation

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