Summer energy outlook mixed for Californians

Southern California could face energy shortages this summer, the Los Angeles Times reminds us, while NorCal's energy outlook is decidedly better, yet mixed, per the Sacramento Bee...

A top official at the state Independent System Operator, which runs a large part of the electric grid, says there's a "moderate" risk of power interruptions, including blackouts, in the south state if summer is unusually hot.

California's three big for-profit utilities and its biggest municipal utilities all told the state Senate Energy Committee on Tuesday that they expect to have ample power - plus an emergency cushion - for summer.

One energy consultant says the West now is wallowing in an electricity glut, and that California should have healthy surpluses in the north and south.

Yet federal regulators, in a press release announcing assignment of two staffers to a Folsom office, said Friday that the move is particularly important because the state could face "tight energy supplies."

Clear...as...daylight. Sometimes don't you think a Magic 8 Ball would be more accurate?