California lurches through a series of power emergencies during the summer amid soaring demand for air conditioning during heat waves. Calif. Gov. Gray Davis signs into law a rate cap for San Diego Gas and Electric customers after public outcry. Dec. 4 - California utilities ask consumers to refrain from turning on Christmas lights until after 8 p.m. to save power. The Clinton administration takes rare action of invoking emergency powers to prevent blackouts in California after a dozen power generators refuse to sell electricity to state utilities due to concerns about credit worthiness. But action seen as too little, too late on Wall Street.
Fitch cuts ratings even lower.
Meanwhile, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson extends through Jan. 10 emergency order mandating that power generators and marketers sell power to California to prevent blackouts. Jan. 5 - SoCal Edison says it will cut 1,450 jobs, or 13 percent of its workforce, over the next few months, bringing to 1,850 the total number of job cuts for the company since the California power crisis began. He vows to save the state's two biggest utilities from bankruptcy, proposing a new California power authority and a crackdown on price-gougers. Jan. 9 - Davis flies to Washington to press his plan with utility executives, federal regulators and the Clinton administration's top economic officials. Washington calls the meeting to prevent reverberations throughout the U.S. economy from California's severe power shortage.