Southern California May Face Summer Shortages

Forecasters still believe that California risks a shortage of electricity, particularly in Southern parts of the State.

Forecasts for summer 2007 show, "There is a 1% to 6.7% probability of a Stage 3 emergency for Southern California next summer, depending on the availability of the planned power plants, Ashuckian said. There is a 40% to 47% probability of a Stage 1 emergency, which is a public call for conservation and occurs when the reserve margin falls below 7%."

At some point, there is only so far Californians can curtail demand and we'll need to start talking seriously about increasing supplies.