SAN DIEGO - People in the West expect chairlifts to keep rolling in Steamboat Springs, Colo. They expect computer screens in Arizona classrooms to continue glowing.

In fact, the future of the entire Western economy depends largely on whether states and utilities can agree on how to share costs and recover investments on a Western electrical grid system that will keep the power flowing even as populations grow here, a top federal official said.

"The interstate grid is the highway for interstate commerce and economy. … The rules for access to that interstate highway system have to be fair," said Joseph Kelliher, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Western states and utilities have come together to figure out how they can break away from the old "load-center" model upon which the Western grid system was built. They discussed the topic here Tuesday at the New Frontier Power Summit.

For decades, power companies built their electrical generation plants as close as possible to their end-point customers. Over time, it created a grid system segmented by multiple owners and poor connections between distant points. Those utilities were shy to invest in upgrades to the systems because they were uncertain about how to share access and cost recovery.

However, the California energy crisis in 2000-01 served as a wake-up call. The demand for energy and the need to upgrade transmission systems is now great enough to expand the grid to connect distant resources - Wyoming coal and wind - with the L.A.s and Las Vegases of the West.

Energy experts warned that if that vision isn't acted upon now, then the entire West could share in the next energy crisis.

Jeff Byron, co-chairman of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Energy Committee, said the social unrest that resulted from California's rolling brownouts sent a clear signal.

Byron displayed a PowerPoint of a quote he gave during the 2000-01 California energy crisis: "This will mark the first time in history we will see the downfall of a state governor (Gray Davis) for reasons other than sex or corruption."

"Energy equals prosperity, and America is a shining example," Byron said on Tuesday. "The more it uses, the richer it gets."

Byron's organization represents more than 300 companies that primarily use electricity for software and sharing information. He said that in recent years Silicon Valley industry has reduced the amount of electricity it consumes while private residential consumption in the area has surpassed the industry.

Byron said he's particularly concerned that more than 90 percent of all new power generation in California in recent years has gone to natural gas - a commodity that has skyrocketed in price.

"As a customer, I don't understand all of this stuff, but I certainly don't see any downward pressure on natural gas," Byron said.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.