Monday night football fans probably think little about the power that lets them watch the game on television and wash down microwaved popcorn with a cold beer. And Tuesday-morning quarterbacks probably aren't analyzing the essence of the clock-radio alarm, blow-dried hair and a hot cup of coffee.

Only when the monthly electric bills come do average Americans think about the power that makes life convenient. But when people are making a payment isn't when they consider the electric company in the best light, so to speak.

It Southern California Edison wants to change that to some degree by constructing a 230-mile, high-voltage transmission line from the Devers Substation about 10 miles north of Palm Springs to the Harquahal Switchyard about 40 miles west of Phoenix, Ariz. The line would add 1,200 megawatt capacity (one megawatt can serve 1,000 customers in the winter and 750 customers in the summer). But it's not the area's exploding population fueling the project.

"Our primary purpose in this is to access low-cost power," says Marco Ahumada, project manager. "This will, however, contribute to help us maintain costs as load increases and population grows."

Ahumada was among about a dozen SCE engineers and economic, environmental and public relations experts at a fourhour project open house in Palm Desert on Sept. 28. It was the last in a series of such events along the proposed line, the earlier events being in Blythe, Loma Linda, Calimesa and Beaumont.

Display boards on easels around the room at the Joslyn Senior Center illustrated SCE's plans.

The new 500,000-volt line would essentially parallel an existing 500,000-volt line (constructed in the early 1980s) running along the south side of Interstate 10 from Arizona to the Cactus City rest stop near Desert Center, then crossing to the north side of the interstate to the Devers Substation.

The bottom line, according to SCE officials, is that the DeversPalo Verde No. 2 line, as the project is called, would (1) allow the company to import lower-cost electricity into California, thus lowering the cost its customers pay; (2) increase energy producers' access to the California energy market and provide an incentive for new generation development; (3) increase competition among energy suppliers; and (4) offset price increases that could result from events such as droughts that reduce supplies of low-cost hydroelectricity and heat waves that create high-peak demand for electricity.

The bottom line to SCE customers, based on questions/concerns raised in the face of the proposal, is (1) how the project will impact their electricity rates; (2) how the additional line will impact the environment; (3) how construction of the new line will impact them; and (4) whether they will experience increased health risk from electric and magnetic fields.

The answer to the first question is somewhat elusive, in part because SCE doesn't know how many customers it will actually be serving when the line is completed (projected for June 2009). "We haven't converted the community cost ratio to a rate," Ahumada says. All SCE customers will share in the $600 million cost.

According to Ahumada, the savings realized by cheaper sources of electricity will offset the transmission charge line item on electric bills. "We expect to see benefits immediately," he says. "Our analysis shows the benefits exceed the costs," And, he points out, the cost won't appear on bills until 2010, after the project is completed. "We get financing to pay upfront costs," Ahumada says.

Of course, SCE can't just go out and start digging holes for transmission tower footings. The company already has prepared inches upon inches of documents detailing technical, economic and environmental aspects of the proposal. The California Independent System Operator - responsible for managing the California electric power grid - is conducting its own analysis, and SCE hopes to have CISO approval next month. Then it must file applications with and obtain approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission, Arizona Corporation Commission (the CPUC equivalent in that state), and Bureau of Land Management. SCE hopes to have those approvals by early 2006.

When all of that is accomplished, SCE will then request permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put the cost of the project into customer rates. In addition to governmental approvals, SCE must coordinate its activities with The Gas Company and Imperial Irrigation District to cross their lines.