Proposed Powerline to Save Less Money Than Estimated

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 26, 2007 at 11:34 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

A proposed power line project is going to save San Diego ratepayers far less money than original estimates. San Diego Gas and Electric projected the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line would save elec

A proposed power line project is going to save San Diego ratepayers far less money than original estimates. San Diego Gas and Electric projected the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line would save electric customers more than $450 million a year. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The utility now says the Sunrise Powerlink project will save electric customers about $100 million a year. SDG&E says the cost savings comes from cheaper and more efficient power. Dave Geier is SDG&E's Vice President for Electrical Transmission and Distribution.

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Geier: Well the important thing to remember about these numbers is that the project is still economical.

Geier says the project will provide cheaper, cleaner energy.

Geier: This project is really a reliability project. There are three legs to our stool, first being reliability. We need this project by 2010 to keep the lights on in San Diego.

Environmental groups have questioned the need for the Sunrise Powerlink and its route through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The state Public Utilities Commission and the Bureau of Land Management will have another round of public meetings next month on the project. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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