Utilities' financial ills force Kern power plants to close

The shutdowns of those five plants alone have cost California's energy grid enough power to supply nearly 250,000 homes.

The utilities owe these power generators millions in back payments for the electricity they have provided during the state's energy crisis. Kern County's wind generating companies also are owed millions for power they've poured into the grid.

"We've been providing power since November, but we haven't been paid for it," said Gordon W. Thomson, executive director of the Kern River Cogeneration Co.

Thomson said both the Kern River plant and the neighboring Sycamore Cogeneration Co. plant are owned by a partnership between Texaco and Edison Mission Energy, a subsidiary of Edison International. The Sycamore plant will remain at full power. Edison owes both plants $172 million in back payments.

Kern County has dozens of small, mid-sized and large power plants, 92 in all, capable of making more than 2,500 megawatts of power. That's enough for 2.5 million homes.

Many of those plants are burning natural gas, and many haven't been paid in full for the power they have produced for months. In addition, natural gas prices have more than tripled in price in the past year before dropping to about double last year's prices in the past weeks. That's made it difficult for generators who aren't getting paid to remain on the grid.

Both Edison and PG&E say they are paying the energy-producing companies as much as they can at this time because the payments they receive from customers are frozen under California's utility deregulation law.

Jon Tremayne, a PG&E spokesman, said the utility made partial payments to the state's cogeneration facilities for the power it has received from them. He said full payments cannot be made until a solution to the state's energy crisis can be found.

The utility owes $437 million to cogeneration plants across the state and paid $51 million Thursday.

Cogeneration plants produce electricity for the state's power grid, plus steam and heat for use in local oil fields or for other industrial uses.

A spokesman for Southern Cal Edison said the company has deferred payments to cogeneration plants until the energy crisis passes. He said the utility expects to eventually pay its bills in full.<