Southern California Edison has reached agreements in principle
to settle the claims asserted by 23 public entities (cities,
counties and special districts) impacted by the 2017 Thomas and
Koenigstein fires, the 2018 Montecito debris flows and the 2018
Woolsey Fire.
Under the settlements, payments totaling $360 million will be
made to the 23 public entities for damages alleged to have been
caused by the fires and debris flows, with $150 million allocated
to the 2017 fire and 2018 debris flow events and the remaining $210
million allocated to the 2018 Woolsey Fire. The agreements are a
compromise reached by SCE and the public entities to resolve the
public entities’ claims, and no admission of wrongdoing or
liability was made in reaching these agreements.
These settlements apply to damages claimed by the public
entities only and do not affect the claims of individuals or
businesses impacted by the fires and debris flows or impact the
existing cross-claims that SCE and its parent maintain against four
of the public entities in connection with the debris flows. SCE
will continue to work with stakeholders to resolve the issues
related to the 2017 and 2018 events.
“We are pleased to reach agreements to resolve the claims
brought by local government entities related to the 2017 and 2018
events,” said Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison
International, the parent company of SCE. “We look forward to
engaging with other parties who have a similar interest in good
faith settlement efforts. We also will continue to make substantial
investments in our system and enhance our operational practices to
reduce the risk of wildfires in our service area and safely provide
power to homes and businesses.”
The parties engaged JAMS Mediator Judge Jay Gandhi (ret.) to
preside over the negotiations, which resulted in the settlements in
principle.
SCE’s Efforts at Managing the Wildfire Threat in
California
Edison’s thoughts remain with the communities across the state
that have suffered losses due to wildfire. The safety of the
public, customers, communities and employees is the company’s first
and highest priority.
SCE has taken substantial steps to reduce the risk of fires
caused by its electrical equipment in the changing, high fire risk
areas in its service territory. SCE is investing hundreds of
millions of dollars implementing enhanced plans to more safely and
reliably provide power to millions of homes and businesses by
employing design and construction standards, vegetation management
practices and other operational practices to mitigate wildfire
risk.
The company has proposed spending $582 million on its Grid
Safety and Resiliency Program (GSRP) consisting of additional
measures to enhance wildfire safety.
Under the program, SCE is incorporating leading mitigation
measures to enhance the significant practices already in place to
reduce the risk of wildfires. A key element of the plan includes
reducing the risk of sparks that can ignite fires by replacing
overhead power lines in high fire risk areas with insulated wire
(often referred to as covered conductor). SCE has installed the
first 300 miles of insulated wire, with plans to replace nearly
1,000 miles by the end of 2020 and to install about 4,900
additional miles between 2021 and 2023.
SCE has already installed fast-acting fuses at about 10,000 new
locations, with plans to upgrade thousands more; deployed 470 of
the 850 planned weather stations to help monitor weather conditions
in high fire risk areas; and installed more than 130 of the 160
planned high-definition cameras to more quickly detect fire
ignitions.
Many Factors Contribute to Rising Wildfire Risk
Multiple factors contribute to wildfires across SCE’s service
area and throughout California. These include: the buildup of dry
vegetation in areas severely impacted by years of historic drought;
the failure of multiple responsible parties to clear the buildup of
hazardous fuels; increasing temperatures; lower humidity; and
strong Santa Ana winds.
Such factors can trigger wildfires for a variety of reasons and
strain or damage utility facilities, no matter how well designed,
constructed and maintained. Wildfire risk is increasing while more
and more residential and commercial development is occurring in
some of the highest-risk areas — with more than a quarter of SCE’s
service territory in high fire risk areas identified on the
California Public Utilities Commission’s fire risk maps.
Public Entities
The settling public entities include:
Thomas, Koenigstein, Montecito City of Santa Barbara, Montecito
Water District, county of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County Fire
Protection District, Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water
Conservation District, city of Buenaventura, Carpinteria-Summerland
Fire Protection District, Montecito Fire Protection District,
county of Ventura, Ventura County Watershed Protection District and
the Ventura County Fire Protection District.
Woolsey City of Malibu, county of Los Angeles, Los Angeles
County Flood Control District, Consolidated Fire Protection
District of Los Angeles County, county of Ventura, Ventura County
Watershed Protection District, Ventura County Fire Protection
District, city of Agoura Hills, city of Westlake Village, city of
Calabasas, city of Hidden Hills, Conejo Recreation & Park
District, Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, Rancho Simi
Recreation & Park District and the city of Thousand Oaks.
Safe Harbor Statement for Investors
Statements contained in this press release about the settlements
and SCE’s wildfire mitigation efforts, and other statements that do
not directly relate to a historical or current fact, are
forward-looking statements. In this press release, the words
"believes," "continuing to," "predict," "plan," "may," "will," and
variations of such words and similar expressions, or discussions of
strategy, plans or actions, are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current
expectations; however, such statements necessarily involve risks
and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from
current expectations. Other important factors are discussed in
Southern California Edison’s Form 10-K, most recent Form 10-Q and
other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
which are available on our website: edisoninvestor.com. Edison
International and Southern California Edison Company have no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether due to new information, future events or
otherwise.
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California
Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a
population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer
accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central,
Coastal and Southern California.
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Investor Relations Contact: Sam Ramraj, (626) 302-2540 Media
Contact: David Eisenhauer, (626) 302-2255
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