Sharing The Pain.

THE great California blackout lottery is entering a critical final stage and businesses throughout Los Angeles and elsewhere in the state are ratcheting up the pressure on politicians and the Public Utilities Commission to win exemptions from almost certain rolling power outages this summer.

As the PUC sorts through the waiver applications, it is imperative that the beleaguered agency consider very carefully the merits of each application before deciding whether or not a waiver is warranted. The PUC's final determinations on who gets exempted are expected to come Aug. 2.

Already, thousands of public and private agencies -- hospitals, police stations, airports, sanitation facilities and the like -- have been granted waivers from blackouts this summer.

That is clearly as it should be. No electrical interruptions should be allowed that would legitimately endanger public health and safety.

With those exemptions in place, that leaves the PUC with only enough power to set aside to accommodate perhaps a few hundred more requests. Yet more than 10,000 businesses and organizations, many of them wielding tremendous economic and political clout, have applied for those precious few waivers.

Undoubtedly, many of the waiver applicants have stated compelling reasons why they should be spared from power outages. Problem is, every exemption granted by the PUC means that other businesses, organizations and individuals will have to shoulder that much more of the blackout burden. It's simple math. When there's only so much power to go around, the more set aside for "essential" operations leaves less for everyone else, and increases everyone else's chances of being exposed to more frequent, more prolonged blackouts.

While many of the applications that flooded into the state capital may seem compelling, others are inane -- especially considering the PUC's "official" policy is that waivers be based on threats to public health and safety, not on economic hardship.

Nonetheless, steams of applications were submitted by supermarkets, tattoo parlors, hair salons and even liquor stores. Their laughable assertions that power outages would pose public safety risks make a mockery of the exemption process.

"Our meat and deli products could spoil in a blackout. If I sell food that has turned bad, people could get sick," argued Ari Tabian, whose Beverly Hills Liquor and Deli is seeking an exemption.

Mr. Tabian's plight and those of countless other small-business owners struggling to make ends meet is real, and not to be taken lightly. But if his deli is exempted, what about all the other delis? How about malls? Some mall operators are asserting that suddenly stopping escalators could cause shoppers to be injured. Hmmmm.

Likewise, larger and more powerful companies such as Universal Studios Hollywood, Albertson's and Exxon-Mobil Corp are all seeking waivers.

Exxon Mobil and other California refiners contend that stopping their production facilities, which can take days to restart, could send gasoline prices soaring 20 cents a gallon or more in the state, which would undoubtedly be a burden for motorists.

Most large businesses, of course, are better able to withstand losses stemming from rolling blackouts this summer than are small entrepreneurs like Mr. Tabian. But playing one business off another -- deciding which is more deserving of a break from rolling blackouts -- is not an appropriate role for PUC officials or other state bureaucrats to play.

Some businesses should not be allowed to profit at the expense of others, as a result of PUC mandate. Yes, any operation whose power supply is essential to ensure public health and safety should be exempted. As for the rest, well, we're in the midst of a major crisis here, and the pain resulting from that crisis ought to be shared.