SAN DIEGO — Rockview Dairies Inc. had a sweet deal on electricity, getting reduced rates in exchange for its agreement to reduce or turn off power use when state supplies fell below a certain limit. But then the milk bottler's deal with Southern California Edison started to sour in the heat of summer as the first wave of power shortages hit.

        Rockview Dairies was one of about 1,000 companies that accepted the plan, and for seven years it saved $50,000 annually as Edison rarely asked for cutbacks.

        This past year, however, Rockview lost thousands of dollars in productivity as the utility, struggling to meet demand, told it on more than a dozen occasions to shut down for four hours at a time.

        “It's become a real burden to me,” said Amos DeGroot, president of the family-owned business in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey.

        Hundreds of other businesses around the state are feeling the same burden and are watching closely as the Public Utilities Commission tries to reshape the so-called interruptible service program, which provided discounts of up to 20 percent.

        The power crunch, blamed in part on the effects of California's deregulation of electric utilities, has brought the state perilously close to blackouts the past few months. Utilities have faced a shortage of generating capacity, soaring prices of the natural gas used to fire many generators, and competition from other states meeting their own energy demands.

        A wave of businesses petitioned the utilities commission to let them out of interruptible service contracts after being hit time and again with requests to curtail power use. In October the commission, fearing more stress on the power grid if it could not ask for cutbacks, suspended the ability of customers to leave the program until March 31. Until that action, participants could opt out each November.

        In February, the commission is expected to release new guidelines, possibly providing new incentives to keep participants in the program. Given the power crunch, there's no guarantee regulators will allow large commercial users to return immediately to normal service, commission spokeswoman Kyle DeVine said.

        “We need these customers to remain in that interruptible program so we can keep the lights on for other people,” he said.

        That could produce conflict between businesses and the commission because no amount of new incentives will satisfy some participants in the program, said Jim Conlan, vice president of governmental affairs for the California Small Business Association.

        “If you're a manufacturer running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you can't afford even a blip in your power,” he said.

        A business in the program that decides it can't cut its power use faces a steep fee.

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