Edison customers get a break

Having at last crawled out of debt, Southern California Edison is

prepared to give customers the benefit of its renewed fortune in the

form of rate reductions.

The California Public Utilities Commission last week approved $1.2

billion in rate reductions for Southern California Edison customers,

which means many Surf City residents and business owners will see a

drop in their electricity rates as of Aug. 1.

The reduction, the first since rates were increased during

California’s power crisis, are a result of the power company

recovering about $3.6 billion in rates.

For residential customers, rates will drop by about 8%, for

businesses, anywhere from 13% to 19%.

“I think it is great, however we can save money during these

times,” Huntington Beach resident Evan Wride said.

While rate reductions should benefit all Southern California

Edison customers, it will effect large-scale electricity users the

most.

“Those hardest hit receive the greatest relief,” said Gil

Alexander, a spokesman for Edison. “Everyone will benefit

commensurate to what they paid.”

Residents and business owners who managed to keep consumption to a

minimum by following the recommendations of the state power

commission will likely see no change in their bills. There will be no

decrease for these customers because their rates did not increase

during the power crisis.

News of rate reductions has come as a welcome surprise to many,

especially those whose businesses depend on it.

Mark Bhataravidhya, technical coordinator for Cyberimage

International, a local Web site design and development company, said

it should give business a boost.

“That is a surprise. I thought we were at a shortage,”

Bhataravidhya said. “It should be very helpful.”

It may be a bit more a mixed bag for the city of Huntington Beach.

While its electricity costs will go down like everyone else’s, there

will also be a loss of utility tax revenue from Edison, City

Administrator Ray Silver said.

“Obviously, it’s a good thing because costs are less. The question

is, is the loss of utility tax greater,” Silver said. “We’re still

trying to understand how it affects what we pay.”

Shipley Nature Center opens gates to public

The Shipley Nature Center will open to the public Sunday for the

first time since the city yanked funding from the center in September

2002.

“It’s the start of getting it open for people to do anything they

want,” said Stephanie Pacheco, president of the Friends of the

Shipley Nature Center, the volunteer group that is struggling to

restore the center to a thriving natural sanctuary for the community.

The group took over management of the center in October 2002.

Shipley will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the third Sunday of

the month for the next three months. Nature lovers are invited to

take bird walks, stroll through the grounds or help with ongoing

volunteer projects. Two docents will be available to answer questions

and give short tours.

Since funding was cut, the volunteer organization has been

scraping to find funding. Its members have also been getting on their

hands and knees the first Saturday of every month and pulling weeds

to make way for native plants.

The center just received another $10,000 grant from the Santa Ana

River Conservancy Trust fund to keep the Orange County Conservation

Corps for another four months. Members of the corps have been coming

to the center four times a week to weed, clear trails, remove

invasive trees and perform other work to restore the center to its

natural state.

“It’s certainly moving in the right direction,” Pacheco said.

“We’re new, we’re volunteers and we’re doing the best that we can.”

School tours, which were halted last September, will begin again

this fall. For more information on the Shipley Nature Center, or to

join as a volunteer, call (714) 842-4772 or log on to www.fsnc.org.

Traffic on PCH may be slow for landscaping

Pacific Coast Highway will undergo a landscaping project to

restore the center median between Beach Boulevard and Huntington

Street beginning July 28.

During the three weeks of construction, traffic may be disrupted

and some lanes may be partially closed.

Keeping with the landscaping theme that exists along most of the

highway, plants will go in place of asphalt.

Most of the work will take place near Twin Dolphin Drive.

Construction of the Sea Colony to start in July

Construction of model homes for Sea Colony, a new residential

housing community to be built behind the new Hyatt Regency Huntington

Beach Resort & Spa, will begin this month.

Sea Colony is one of two communities that will make up Waterfront

Residential, a seaside housing complex, slated to open in May of

2004.

Developer Christopher Homes is building one or two model homes to

show potential residents before starting construction on the rest of

the condominiums.

“Folks can take a tour so they know what these homes are going to

look like,” said Ron Santos, assistant city planner.

The paseo homes will have open courtyards and luxury interiors

from 2,961 to 3,384 square feet. Sea Colony will have 78 units, and

it’s neighbor, Sea Cove, will have 106.

For more information on either community, visit

www.hbwaterfront.com.

Southern California Edison pipelines sold

The sale of three giant tanks and a network of fuel pipelines in

Southeast Huntington Beach was approved July 10 by the California

Public Utilities Commission.

The tanks and pipelines in Surf City are part of a 120-mile

delivery network that Pacific Energy Partners is buying from Southern

California Edison for $158.2 million.

The tank farm is in southeast Huntington Beach, near the Ascon

waste dump, and the pipelines criss-cross beneath the city. The three

tanks hold 467,000 gallons of crude oil. A smaller tank holds 26,000

gallons.

Through the pipes, oil is transported as needed from a refinery to

the Huntington tanks for storage and back to the refinery.

Escrow is expected to close at the end of July.