The heat wave didn't hit all areas of the state at the same time, and cooler weather in the Pacific Northwest got power flowing from that region to California again. Also, there have been no new power-plant malfunctions, and many of the smaller generating facilities that were AWOL a few weeks ago, when the last blackouts hit, are operating again. Dave Wright, deputy director of public utilities for Riverside, said he's guessing the city's consumers are cutting back about 5 percent compared with a year ago, based on anecdotal information. Gov. Davis' office has estimated that Californians cut power use between 8 percent and 9 percent in February, March and April, compared with a year-earlier. Davis has called for a 10 percent reduction for the summer.
People know the rates have gone up.
That's spurred some conservation. But Alexander said it's impossible to determine whether that increase is because of consumption habits or growth in commerce and population. Southern California's job growth rate is between 2 and 4 percent annually. If you factor that out, conservation may have been a significant plus. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Southern California was the only region of the state on the hot seat.