RESIDENTS SEE THE LIGHT STATE AVOIDS BLACKOUTS; ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION STRESSED.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Chances of a statewide energy blackout dimmed Friday as power plants revved generators and Western governors vowed to bolster power-sharing agreements and conserve electricity.

California's power distributor Friday declared a Stage 2 power alert - with reserves lower than 5 percent - but fell short of asking utilities to pull the plug on individual users.

Customers of municipally run utilities in Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale and the Imperial Valley were not affected by the emergency.

Energy reserves, while still tight, are expected to increase this weekend as consumers draw less juice. Power stations down for repairs during Thursday's near blackout are lighting up across the state.

Alarmed at sacrifices constituents have made to supply power to California during the crisis, the governors of Washington and Oregon flew to Sacramento on Friday and met with Gov. Gray Davis to seek a solution to the regional energy shortage.

``We pledge to work together to support Oregon and Washington when they need power, and to get power from them when we need it at various times of the year,'' Davis said during a joint press conference with Govs. Gary Locke of Washington and John Kitzhaber of Oregon.

``Clearly, we need a time out, so that users in these states don't have to bear the burden of price gouging (from producers.)''

It was an 11th-hour power surge from Washington, Oregon and Canada on Thursday that saved California's private utility consumers from near-certain blackouts Thursday evening.

To help cure ills caused by energy industry deregulation, Davis outlined plans to whittle energy use by 5 percent; secure power with state funds for resale to credit-poor utilities; and sponsor a West Coast energy conference Feb. 2 in Portland, Ore.

The governors, in a joint statement, urged the federal government to institute price controls, or caps, on the runaway cost of Western energy.

Though California consumes less energy per person than 46 states, it is building nine new power plants, Davis said.

``We're moving at warp speed to bring on new plants and make California more (energy) efficient,'' he said.

The governors urged residents to help cut consumption up to 10 percent by switching off lights, turning off computers when not in use and using more energy efficient appliances.

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson required the state to reduce consumption before extending an order Wednesday to keep power flowing into the state.

The state Assembly approved two bills Friday designed to protect consumers and keep power plants from being sold to unregulated, out-of- state generators.

``We still have work to do, but we're attacking the problem,'' Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, said in a statement. ``Low-cost, long-term contracts may be as close as we can come to putting the deregulation genie back in the bottle.''

The bill calls for the California Independent System Operator, which controls power flow across the state, to revamp its 26-member board of mostly industry stakeholders with a three-member citizen panel appointed by the governor.

The nonprofit agency, stung by Davis' criticism that it failed to do everything it could to locate power in order to ramp up prices for generators Thursday, said the crisis was real.

``I can assure you - I've operated power systems for 23 years - there is no crying wolf here: Everyone on the board is interested in keeping the lights on,'' said Kellan Fluckiger, chief operating officer for the ISO.

Washington and Oregon typically import energy from California during the winter months, but the state has none to give this year. Residents used to paying next-to-nothing for power now pay as much as 50 percent more.

``Most Washingtonians feel very little kindredness with California,'' said John Hughes, editor of The Daily World in Aberdeen, Wash., ``and wish California would keep their damn hands off our power.''

While Locke is genuinely sympathetic to the Golden State, he said, most Washingtonians feel like saying, ``tough noogie, and that's just the way it is.''