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By Richard Baguley, 4 April 2001 07:30

COMMENT The darkness isn't the result of an earthquake or other natural disaster. It is the result of a deliberate decision by the organisation that runs the California electricity grid. Because they can't buy enough electricity, they cut off some customers in order to keep the power flowing for the majority. It's called a rolling blackout, and the residents and businesses of California are getting increasingly used to the power going out with little or no notice. What's more, this crisis shows no sign of being solved. Instead, things are likely to get worse before they get better. The origins of the California power crisis have been well documented, but the gist is a combination of increasing demand, a lack of new power plants and an ill-planned deregulation policy that left the people who run the power grid scrambling to keep up with demand by buying electricity while they teeter on the verge of bankruptcy. Things are likely to get worse over the next few months: with the weather getting hotter, more people will be using air conditioning, using more electricity. And despite a state government-sponsored plan to use the budget surplus to buy electricity, the system regulators will still be struggling to buy enough of it to keep up with increasing demand, leading to more blackouts. I've been in two rolling blackouts, and what they underline is how much modern business relies on electricity. When it happens, you can't use the internet or the telephones. The elevators don't work (which is a real problem when you work on the sixth floor). You can't even get a cup of coffee - the local branch of Starbucks was forced to close down because their electric coffee makers wouldn't work. San Francisco's South of Market district (where many internet companies have their offices) was a strange place during a blackout, with lots of dazed looking people wandering around wondering what to do when they can't check their email. Many companies have lost significant amounts of money because they've had employees sitting around doing nothing for hours at a time. However, most seem to be able to keep their services up and running when the power goes out. EverQuest is an online fantasy game run by Sony Online Entertainment in San Diego. Although the company has been subject to blackouts the game has kept on running. "Gameplay is in no way affected by these power shortages," said Christy Fritts of Sony Online Entertainment. The company has installed generators that kick in when the power goes out. EverQuest producer Matt Yaney also produced an amusing diary about how everything stopped except EverQuest during a recent blackout (see: http://www.station.sony.com/news/667.jhtml ). In fact, most of the businesses I speak to (including ISPs, web hosting companies and software developers) have come through the rolling blackouts relatively unscathed because they have already installed generators or uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in preparation for other problems such as earthquakes. They may have lost some time, but the services their customers rely on haven't suffered. But this is not to say that California has survived completely unscathed. The real damage has been to the reputation of the state as a place for high-tech businesses. Even the possibility of power problems can be enough to persuade a company planning to expand to look elsewhere. Other states have been quick to take advantage. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has been sending out packages containing flashlights and a note saying "the lights are always on in Tennessee". Yet many companies are staying put despite the power problems. "In California, we get the best fibre optic links from companies such as UUNet, GTE and Sprint and we don't plan on moving and opening new offices," said Stan, an employee at Pacific Net Management, a web-hosting company in San Francisco. But the truth is that many companies will be taking a long look at how the power crisis progresses before they choose to invest further in Silicon Valley. After all, a high-tech company without power is rather like a chocolate teapot - no use to anybody.