POWER CRISIS SHUTS COLLEGE, BOOSTS RATES HIGH SCHOOLS TAKE BIG HIT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick and Karen Maeshiro Staff Writers

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley College shut down Thursday to save electrical power and Antelope Valley Union High School District officials decided to absorb thousands of dollars in higher bills as California entered another electrical-power crisis.

As state officials warned of rolling blackouts, energy users on ``interruptible'' power contracts were told to shut down or face punitively high charges.

``We're definitely done for today but we hope to reopen for business as usual Friday,'' Antelope Valley College spokesman Steve Standerfer said Thursday morning.

The California Independent System Operator, which manages the power supply for much of the state, said breakdowns and storm-related problems at several power plants pushed electrical reserves to critically low levels Thursday.

The agency told utilities to notify their customers on interruptible contracts to shut down, and warned that rolling blackouts might become necessary, with power cut off to neighborhoods for an hour at a time.

The college had several hundred students on campus Thursday for intercession classes, which are in their second week, Standerfer said.

Antelope Valley Union High School District officials urged staffers to turn off unnecessary lights and computers but kept open three campuses targeted for power interruption by Southern California Edison. Other schools weren't affected.

To keep Antelope Valley, Quartz Hill and Palmdale high schools open, the district had to pay $9.30 per kilowatt hour instead of the standard 8 cents.

``We have kids in class,'' high school spokeswoman Linda Solcich said. ``We are not going to shut down a school while school is in session. We just will absorb that additional cost.''

How much extra it costs the district depends on how much the schools cut back power use, officials said. But even if use drops to about 200 kilowatts an hour at each school, Thursday's bill could amount to some $28,000 - more than 10 times normal, officials said.

At Antelope Valley High School, Principal Mark Bryant said roughly half the lights on campus were off Thursday to conserve energy.

``We notified all teachers that we were going to have an override and to turn off whatever energy they could,'' Bryant said. ``We went into the gyms and turned off whatever lights we could and still maintain safety. We did the same thing in the locker rooms.''

At Palmdale High School, the staff was told to turn off items that were not in use, such as computers, and to shut down everything when they left for the day.

``We have a plan set out as far as conserving on campus,'' Principal Michael Vierra said.