VALLEY CENTER, Calif. -- A plan to shut off power to prevent power lines from sparking a wildfire has SDG&E at odds with some water districts around the county.

It may force the water districts to buy generators to keep the water running.

"The power demand of the station is the equivalent of a small city,” said Gary Arant.

The Bettsworth station is the Valley Center Municipal Water District's main pumping station.

It takes around 5 megawatts to power the facility.

“I can’t have my water system without power for 12, 18, 24 , 36 hours," said Arant, the district's general manager.

He is referring to SDG&E's emergency power shut off plan.

The plan calls for power lines to be shut off during high wind and dry conditions to avoid sparking a fire.

"Our concern is, with the SDG&E plan, we're going to need about 8 to 12 of these units just maintain the critical service," Arant said.

If the power is shut off, Arant says he would need auxiliary generators at a cost of $2.8 million to keep water running for customers and firefighters.

But, Arant said negotiations with SDG&E have come to a halt.

"To have them unilaterally pull the information and pull the offers off the table was very disappointing," Arant said.

He said the utility company had been willing to work with them on offsetting the costs of the generators among other agreements, but now they will have to go before the Public Utility Commission for arbitration.

"We're assuming they're going to seek permission through the PUC and they're going to try to not compensate us for the extra cost," said Arant.

Those costs would be passed on to consumers.

"We're looking at $15 to $20 per acre foot to our customers," said Arant.

But SDG&E officials said they are still willing to work with all the water districts.

"To say that there are no options on the table is not really accurate. We are continuing to look at options," replied Stephanie Donovan, an SDG&E spokeswoman.

Donovan said SDG&E just wants to make sure their equipment doesn't spark a fire and that people around the county are safe.

"They have a good point, they need to be viable, especially during a crisis and we want to help them do that," Donovan said.

The Valley Center Water District and SDG&E will meet at a Public Utilities Commission hearing April 8, 2009, to try and work towards a resolution.