SACRAMENTO — In a narrow gray conference room not far from the Capitol, a team of state workers is spending $2 million an hour on a mission scrupulously hidden from public view.
Their work space is spartan. Save for some doughnut crumbs, it holds nothing but computers, a fax machine and the all-important tool of their trade: the telephone.
These are California's power buyers, stalkers who prowl the electricity market day in, day out, hunting for energy before most of us switch on the coffee maker.
In the last two months, the power buyers have burned through nearly $2.3 billion of state money rounding up megawatts for Californians. On Thursday, they asked the Legislature for $500 million more.
Because the work is so sensitive and so much money is involved, state officials say, CIA-like secrecy has been imposed.
Visitors are allowed only quick peeks into the tightly shuttered quarters. Interviews are restricted. Information on blackboards--including trading strategies and numbers for deals just sealed--is shielded from sight.
Though such precautions may seem extreme, if details about what the state is paying per megawatt-hour--or the trading strategies used--leaked out, it could hurt California's bargaining position and drive up asking prices, said Ray Hart, who supervises the operation as deputy director of the Department of Water Resources.
But because of the secrecy, there is no way to judge the bartering prowess of the traders, who spend about $45 million a day buying one-third of the energy Californians use.
Some high-level energy players have questioned whether the department--normally focused on managing dams and pumping water--has the know-how to handle its new role in the volatile energy world. It took over the job last month, when generators balked at selling power to the state's near-bankrupt utilities.
In an interview with The Times earlier this month, the president of Houston-based Reliant Energy, Joe Bob Perkins, said it's hard for the department to "go from one mode to another" and expressed hope that "they'll get it together soon."
And Stephen E. Pickett, vice president and general counsel at Southern California Edison, said the department was "struggling to get up to speed."
But on Thursday, praise for the department's performance came from the California Independent System Operator, which balances supply and demand on the electricity grid serving 75% of the state.
