This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today.
SoCal Edison allowed to raise rates to help pay for 2017 Thomas Fire
The Thomas Fire burning in the hills above Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria on Dec. 13, 2017.
(
George Rose
/
Getty Images
)
State utility regulators on Thursday approved a settlement that will require Southern California Edison customers to foot about $1.7 billion in claims from the 2017 Thomas Fire and the resulting 2018 Montecito debris flows.
The company’s equipment, investigators previously found, caused the December 2017 fire, which burned more than 280,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, killing two people. Rainfall the following month led to debris flows that killed 23 people.
“It’s an agreement to settle contested claims that would have been litigated with an unknown result if this settlement is not adopted,” Alice Reynolds, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said after the vote.
The settlement comes as Edison disputes evidence that its power lines may have ignited the Eaton Fire in Altadena earlier this month.
-
Temperatures won't surpass the upper 70s again. -
Temperatures will hover in the mid 70s to low 80s. -
When the modern electric vehicle was still in its infancy, drivers worried that vehicles would need expensive battery replacements within a few years.
The agreement between the utility and ratepayers representative Cal Advocates is about $1 billion less than the utility originally requested be passed to customers. It passed 4-0 as part of the commission’s consent agenda. Commissioner Matthew Baker, recused himself from the vote; he was head of Cal Advocates, which represents ratepayers before the commission, while the settlement was being hashed out.
“We’re pleased with the commission’s approval of the settlement,” David Eisenhauer, spokesperson for Southern California Edison, said. “The settlement is a fair outcome given the evidence put forward by [Southern California Edison] and Cal Advocates.”
Sponsored message
Those affected by utility-caused wildfires would typically have eligible claims paid out by the California Wildfire Fund, a state-run pool of money that the three major investor-owned utility companies pay into (Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric). But the fund was established under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, prior to the Thomas Fire.
As part of the agreement, Southern California Edison must set aside $50 million in shareholder funds over five years for wildfire mitigation costs, which customers will not be responsible for.
Because the decision was on the consent agenda, there was no discussion of the item at Thursday’s meeting.
The utility has also asked for the commission to have ratepayers pay for damages amounting to $5.4 billion for another fire in 2018 — the Woolsey Fire. A decision on that request will be made at a later date.
Trending on LAist
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed. -
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts. -
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison. -
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist
