Return to Transcripts main page

Open House

Vacation Home Buying; The Perfect Pet; Power Supply

Aired July 29, 2006 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN HOST: Power to the people or not. Why your power supply might be at risk right now. And you'll learn how to buy that dream vacation home for the right price.
How to pick the perfect pet for your family and your house.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Gerri Willis and this is "OPEN HOUSE."

All right. It may not be 100 degrees anymore but power problems continue to heat up across the country.

Folks in New York, Missouri, and California had to live without electricity for some time this week. And it's not even august. This has many of us asking just how reliable is the nation's power supply?

Power out for days on end, sweltering temperatures with no air conditioning, food rotting in refrigerators, thrown out in the trash. That's the situation this week in parts of the country. A heat wave and summer storms created electrical chaos.

In St. Louis, 600,000 people lost power. And a week after the first storm more than 100,000 people were still suffering. They threw out more than 60 tons of spoiled food.

In New York, power company officials haven't said what caused 100,000 queens residents to lose electricity. But nine days later some residents were just getting the lights back on.

In Los Angeles, officials say high temperatures fueled high demand. And transformers couldn't handle it. More than 1.5 million folks were left in the dark and the heat.

PAUL MORENO, PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC: The issue hasn't been with power supply. Back in the energy crisis, people remember the rotating outages. That was done because there wasn't simply enough electricity available.

The issue we had recently is locally the infrastructure has been taxed with very heavy usage of electricity in very hot weather.

WILLIS: It raises questions why can't the grid handle the heat? How long will we have to worry about losing electricity? And what would it take to shape up our nation's power supply?

Joseph Kellaher is one of the people responsible for making sure you get power. He's the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Welcome, chairman.

JOSEPH KELLAHER, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

WILLIS: We're glad to have you here today. And we've got lots of questions. The biggest one is why can't we get this right? I mean we can put people on the moon I can't use my dishwasher right now.

KELLAHER: Well, I think it's important to recognize what happened over the past two weeks. The past two weeks we've seen record levels of electricity demand in six parts of the country occurring simultaneously.

And in California, we have seen California set three records for electricity demand all in the space of a week. So demand is sky high. And it really is the biggest test of the reliability of our electricity system since the August 2003 black-outs.

WILLIS: But is it really just an issue of increased demand? Or is increased demand showing us that there are problems with the system?

KELLAHER: I think we have to plan for increased demand. We have to build enough electricity power plants to provide the supply that consumers need. We also need a strong interstate grid to move the power to where it is needed. Those are two areas where we need to improve.

WILLIS: I want you to respond to some comments we got earlier from Tyson Slocum. He's with Public Citizen. And he has a slightly different analysis of what is wrong.

TYSON SLOCUM, PUBLIC CITIZEN: We no longer have any legal mandates; companies are no longer required to reinvest a portion of their profits back into the system, into maintaining and ensuring reliability.

So as a result over the last decade we have under-vested in reliability. And as a result reliability has suffered.

WILLIS: Chairman, what do you think about that?

KELLAHER: I think reliability if you look at relay ability of the grid over the past week the performance is very impressive. We've seen record levels of demand in the interstate grid has not failed. It has passed the test. Now we need to keep on planning and strengthening the grid. If we don't act the grid will start failing regularly.

WILLIS: I think there are people who might argue with you, like the 1.5 million people in L.A. who didn't have any power. The hundred thousand people in Queens who were without power for nine days. I mean, you may feel like the system is doing a good job but plenty of folks who have really been stretched. Even deaths in the situation. What can make this change and change quickly?

KELLAHER: Well, it's important to understand there's really two networks in this country. There's the local distribution network that provides -- that's the wires that run to our homes and businesses. Then there's the interstate grid.

There have been some black-out of the local distribution network. That's what occurred in Queens, certainly. There has not been failures of the interstate grid, the grid that (inaudible) regulates.

But there needs to be sustained investment in both the local distribution network and the transmission grid. And we also need adequate supply. We need enough power plants to meet the needs of consumers. And we need good conservation programs.

WILLIS: Let's talk a little bit about some of these issues. You say it's the fault of the distributors, my local utility. But aren't they required to upgrade the transformers, their power lines? Why aren't they doing the work they should be doing?

KELLAHER: They do have an obligation to serve. They have an obligation to continue to invest in order to meet service standards. Those service standards are set by state regulators.

I'm sure the state legislators will be looking into the causes of some of the local distribution failures.

WILLIS: What's the solution to the problem?

KELLAHER: Well, the solution to the problem I think there's four solutions. I'm looking at reliability really of the power system. But it relates to the local distribution network too.

We need adequate supply. We need to have enough power plants to meet the demands of consumers. That's an area where there has been pretty good investment in power plants.

We also need to increase significantly in the investment in the bulk power system, in the transmission grid.

We also need to have reliability standards, enforceable reliability standards so that, if someone violates the reliability standard, they are penalized. Up to this point...

WILLIS: Why am I thinking this is going to end up costing me money?

KELLAHER: Well, the question is do you want a reliable system or not. Don't want a reliable system we can get by with a cheap system. Want a system that's not going to fail it will cost some money.

WILLIS: Who is accountable, chairman? KELLAHER: Well, the regulators will oversee the companies that are making the investments. Make sure that they make prudent investments. Make sure they don't earn excessive profits.

WILLIS: Chairman Kellaher, thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate it.

KALLAHER: Thank you.

WILLIS: Right now, in New York, a battle is brewing over the right to hang power lines over private property. That's a struggle that could pop up in your community sometime very soon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice-over): Imagine you're living a quiet life in small town America. Then, one morning you wake up and there's a 120-foot tall electric tower across the street. It could happen in upstate New York.

A private company, New York Regional Interconnects wants to build a high voltage power line from upstate to the New York City area. Residents along the proposed route are fighting it. They say there are other options for meeting the state's energy needs. And they worry about the line's local impact.

TROY BYSTROM, UPPER DELAWARE PRESERVATION COALTION: That area of New York State relies heavily on tourism and agriculture for its company. We're concerned that if power line is built through 190 miles of some of the most pristine scenic land in new York state that it's really going to hurt the economy.

WILLIS: The company behind the project says it would fix a bottleneck that is keeping a surplus of energy upstate.

JONATHAN PIERCE, NEW YORK REGIONAL INTERCONNECT: It will open up a superhighway, if you will, for us to get the power where there's a surplus of it to where there's a need of it.

WILLIS: This fight isn't about New York. Its part after national issue that could affect your community.

It's hard to prevent future power shortages because there's So much public opposition to any new power plant or high voltage power line.

Last year, congress tried to fix it with a new law. It gave the federal government the ability to overrule local states when it comes to power lines.

The Department of Energy can designate an area as an Electric Transmission Corridor. Then the government can authorize construction of power lines using eminent domain. That means the federal government would let companies build high voltage lines to move electricity, even if a state agency says it's not in the State's interest. In fact, the energy department is looking at ten proposed areas in states around the country that might be sites for these transmission lines. One of them, the proposed power line in New York State. And that's a fight that hits home.

A battle between concerned homeowners and a solution that might help keep the lights on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Coming up, everything you need to know when the lights go out.

Plus buying that dream vacation property might be within reach. We'll show you where to buy quality for less.

And then finding the perfect pet for your family. We'll take you through the steps. But first, your tip of the day.

The scorching summer season can lead to dangerous dehydration. You need to know how to prevent it. Before you head outside, drink plenty of water. coffee, tea, sodas don't count. They all have caffeine which is a no-no.

In the summer heat keep it cool by wearing loose fitting clothing and a hat if you can. This will cut down on sweating.

And as for the perfect summer snack, eat lots of fruits and veggies. Those apples and carrots already have lots of water in them.

And that's your tip of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: More proof this week the housing market is cooling off. Sales of new homes fell 3 percent in June. That's the first decline since February. From a year ago, sales of new homes are down more than 11 percent. Existing home sales are down nearly 9 percent from this time last year.

As the slowdown turns into a buyer's market it could be a good time to get a great deal on a second home. Just imagine the fresh mountain air at 10,000 feet with views in all directions, the sunset over a lake.

Now imagine you're looking at all of this from your dream vacation home, one that you bought at an affordable price.

Jake Ward of Men's Journal magazine went on the search for places just like this. And he found them.

Jake, that's awesome. I love this. You've got a fabulous list.

JAKE WARD, MEN'S JOURNAL MAGAZINE: Yes, it's been fun. We look at how Americans sort of think about their fantasies these days. A lot of the time they don't have to do with the city. Want to get out in the world.

WILLIS: Now, to be fair some of the places are way, way out.

WARD: That's right. You have to have a tolerance to go pretty far afield to get the best deals we found.

WILLIS: Exactly. But the benefit is that some of them are near national parks. There's certainly a lot to do, even though they are in rural areas.

WARD: Absolutely. People think to themselves, you have to be in the city to have a lot to do. But we found that there's just an endless amount of recreation you can have, especially when you're right up a national forest. Right down a forest service road. There's a lot to do.

WILLIS: Like in Asheville, North Carolina, which is one of your picks. My entire family is from that area. That is one of my favorites. Tell me why you're drawn to that area.

WARD: We found that, with a median home price of $195,000, it's an incredibly affordable place, considering everything you get.

It's a little more than some of the other places we looked at. But you have the UNC-Asheville is there, which draws in all kinds of events. It's a place where you can get away everything without really having to separate yourself completely. Have a great meal; see a live band on a Friday. It's -- you get the best of the city and the country.

WILLIS: The Appalachian trails are there. Obviously, it is beautiful. Just a Gorgeous place to hike, to bike, lots to do, right?

WARD: That's right. The Pisgah National Forest is right there. You can go for miles on mountain biking trails. There's some really beautiful rivers that run through there. It's really just a lush place. That's what we found.

WILLIS: Smoky Mountain National Park. But I'm going to interrupt myself and move on to another city. That's another one of my favorites.

Glenville, Colorado?

WARD: Yes.

WILLIS: Why'd you pick that?

WARD: Well, Glenville is -- it has an edge of the world kind of appeal. You're on a 10,000 foot plateau in the mountains. But you're really only 90 minutes from Denver. It's an incredible thing.

When you consider that less than an hour away. Vail has a $3 million per acre kind of cost. That's an amazing kind of place. We found land with 38 acres for $60,000. WILLIS: Now, that is really amazing. With no house on it or with a house?

WARD: With no house.

WILLIS: OK.

WARD: The median home price we found was somewhere around $170,000.

WILLIS: That's very affordable.

WARD: But that's really good...

WILLIS: And it could be the next Vail of Aspen, right?

WARD: That's right. You're within an hour of movie stars and have the incredible place.

But the challenge is you're very far away. So you have to look closely at your construction costs. How far away are you from the highway? Who is going to maintain your road when it snows? Who is going to plow it? That kind of thing comes up in a way you would never think of when buying in the city.

WILLIS: When you're rural, it costs a lot more to build. Absolutely.

WARD: Right.

WILLIS: Let's talk about Silver City, New Mexico.

WARD: Silver City, New Mexico is right near the Gila National Forest. It is 6,000 feet, but it's still very temperate. For some reason it's 80 degrees, 50 degrees in the winter. It's really hovers in that range.

WILLIS: It looks charming.

WARD: Yes. It's really a gorgeous place. The median home price there is a lot lower. It's $150,000. But again you're at the edge of the world. Here your primary concern in looking, investigating your place. You have to make sure your water rights are solid. That's obviously in the desert...

WILLIS: I'm going to get you to Eureka, California. I have been there and it's fabulous.

WARD: It is beautiful. The California coast is just a magical thing. The quality of the light is so beautiful.

WILLIS: Look at that picture. Oh my gosh.

WARD: Yes, yes. Fabulous.

WILLIS: The fog, the trees. WARD: That's right. This is a kind of place that people flock to California coastline.

But eureka has managed to remain a little more affordable. Considering the coastline, $300,000 median home price. That's high in the country. But along the coastline, that's a bargain. We found $8,000 for an acre of open land. There's some really amazing land deals.

WILLIS: Okay. Marquette. Can we talk about that in just a few seconds?

WARD: Sure, yes. Marquette, its lush, beautiful. It has -- you're right up against national forests. It's a very affordable spot.

WILLIS: Well, fabulous, fabulous pictures. It all gives us something to think about.

Jake, thanks so much for being with us today.

WARD: Thank you.

WILLIS: Still ahead, important tips in case you lose your power.

And then, it's all about puppy Love. Learn exactly how to find the perfect pet for your family and your home. That's all coming up next on "OPEN HOUSE."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Now, if you're thinking about getting a pet, it's important to find one that best fits your family and your home. We spent the day at the North Shore Animal League for some advice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice-over): Cats, dogs, and puppies, cute and cuddly, but when it comes to finding the perfect pet, good looks aren't everything. Just as important, matching a pet to your lifestyle.

JOHN STEVENSON, PRESIDENT, NSAL: You do want to make sure that you know you have the right animal for the right environment.

WILLIS: Do you live in a small apartment? Consider a cat or small breed dog like a beagle or terrier.

Are you a workaholic that spends little time at home? Get a ferret or goldfish instead.

And if you're retired, think about older animals because they are already trained, and usually more sedate.

Where to find your new furry friend? One option is an adoption. And shelters like this one are happy to help. STEVENSON: The adoption counselor will take them around, point out the pluses and, you know, the negatives on a particular breed for what they are looking for.

WILLIS: The Rivera family is looking for a canine companion for the two kids. And they think they found one. A black lab mix.

NSAL COUNSELOR: They couldn't have asked for a better dog. She's so sweet. She's the right size for them. She's a mature dog so not going to have any puppy nuisance problems. She is house broken. She is good with children.

It's so much easier for a first dog when it's an adult, and you know her personality.

WILLIS: But Maxine gets to check out her new home, the shelter checks out her new family.

COUNSELOR: You guys own or rent.

MS. RIVERA: We own.

COUNSELOR: And as we talked before, where's the animal going to be staying?

MS. RIVERA: She is going to be living with us in the living areas of the home.

COUNSELOR: OK, so he's going to be staying indoors.

MS. RIVERA: Sure.

COUNSELOR: Great, excellent.

STEVENSON: We do have to determine are you willing to make a commitment. A commitment can be a long time.

WILLIS: A long time indeed. The average life span for cats and dogs is 15 years. And it's not just an emotional commitment but a financial one as well.

There's the initial adoption costs and then there are basics like food, a leash and a collar. And don't forget the visits to the vet. All those costs add up.

And so does the time your new best friend demands. Something the Martin family talked about before adopting Jesse.

MR. MARTIN: Brush the dog.

MARTIN GIRL: Walk the dog, feed the dog. Play with the dog and everything.

MR. MARTIN: Just be consistent.

MARTIN GIRL: Make sure she has a lot of fun.

MR. MARTIN: And love?

MARTIN GIRL: And care.

MR. MARTIN: And care. She is really part of the family now, right?

MARTIN GIRL: Yes.

MARTIN GIRL: She will not go anywhere without us.

WILLIS: Finding a pet may be a weekend project. But owning one is a lifetime investment. One that usually pays big dividends.

Next week, we're going to tell you how to pet proof your home.

As always if you have an idea for a weekend project send us an E- mail at openhouse@cnn.com. You can watch past weekend projects on our website at cnn.com/openhouse.

Still ahead, preparing you and your family for losing power. We'll have important tips on what you should do in a black-out. That's when "OPEN HOUSE" comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: When temperatures spike it is prime time for black-outs. Now, if you find yourself suddenly without power, first turn off any appliances or electronics when the power went out. That prevents surges when the power went back on.

Leave one light on so you know when the power returns. While it may be to reach to candles, a flashlight is a far safer bet. If you have to use the phone should use a land-line. Cordless phones won't work. Keep the doors of your refrigerator freezer closed to keep food as fresh as possible.

Don't forget that black-outs aren't confined to the home. Stoplights may be out so try not to drive if you don't have to. If prep time isn't an issue, fill containers leaving water to about an inch at the top. The frozen water will keep food cold is the power goes out.

If you use an electric garage Door opener make sure you know where the manual release is. Keep your car half full since gas stations use electricity to power the pump.

If you have any questions or tips you want to share with your fellow "OPEN HOUSE" viewers, send us an e-mail as openhouse@cnn.com.

And you'll find more on today's guests and topics on our website, cnn.com/openhouse.

As always, we thank you for spending part of your Saturday with us. Don't go anywhere, you're top stories are next on CNN SATURDAY. Have a great weekend.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com