RELOCATION IN ENERGY EQUATION.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - William Gervais is anxious to get his first Southern California Edison electric bill. Then he'll find out whether his $50,000 investment pays dividends.

Gervais, co-founder and chief executive officer of Qualstar Corp., a maker of high-tech data storage devices, decided last summer to move his company to Simi Valley from Canoga Park.

He may have traded one problem for another.

And both can be summed up in one word: power.

Qualstar was paying between $5,000 and $6,000 a month for electricity, which included a 12.5 percent utility tax levied by the city of Los Angeles.

Gervais had grown weary of that kind of impact on the bottom line and Simi Valley seemed a good fit since it didn't have a similar tax. Also a building twice the size of the Canoga Park facility was available, so employees would be able to keep their jobs without a big relocation.

Now the building is just about ready and the state is struggling with a monumental power problem.

``If there is a (prolonged) energy crisis, we should have stayed in L.A.,'' Gervais said with a chuckle Wednesday to let you know he was just kidding.

Last summer, Gervais heard the howls of Sempre Energy customers when their power bills skyrocketed, so he knew similar pain was headed Edison's way.

He tried to build a ``firewall'' of sorts between his company and those rising prices by investing $50,000 to make the building in the 3900 block of Heritage Oak Court as energy-efficient as possible.

``This building is a lot more insulated than the one we had in Canoga Park,'' Gervais said. ``We've done a lot of things to give us the ability to control our own destiny a little better.''

For example, the loading docks are insulated; the ceiling has been wired in a checkerboard pattern so half the lights can be turned off, cutting usage there by 50 percent; and high-efficiency air conditioning and heating units were purchased.

The entire power system can be manually controlled, giving managers better control over their energy use.

Gervais probably won't know until May whether the investment pans out, but if the power costs are the same or slightly higher it will be a good deal.

``It's the cost per square foot that matters and if our efforts to conserve energy here and keep the bill about the same (succeed), that'd be great,'' he said.

Fairchild Fasteners, which moved its distribution facility to the same complex from Chatsworth last year, took the same approach, said facilities manager Jim Vigdor.

For example, there are sensors throughout the 88,000-square-foot distribution center that turns lights on and off when workers enter and leave rooms. There is also a sensor near the skylight that turns off lights over the warehouse floor during the daytime, he said.

``We were aware we'd be facing some tough issues at the time,'' Vigdor said of the decision to move.

He did not know how much more the company is paying for power than it did in Chatsworth, where it occupied a 35,000-square-foot facility.

``Right now we're just considering what our options might be should we face a rolling blackout,'' Vigdor said.

Nor does Edison's plight seem to be having an impact in Simi Valley's business recruitment efforts, said City Manager Mike Sedell.

``It's been continuing in a positive, aggressive fashion. We're meeting with businesses on a regular basis to show them what Simi Valley has to offer,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) Electronics technician Normand Trude works beneath an energy-saving combination of skylights and electric lamps at Qualstar in Simi Valley.

(2 -- color) Qualstar Corp. CEO Bill Gervais spent $50,000 to make his company's Simi Valley headquarters more energy-efficient.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer