With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support 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.
Sponsored message
-
A slightly warmer day on tap, with highs in the mid 70s and blustery conditions. -
Researchers found that in drier years, larger animals are more likely to head closer and closer to where people live. -
The report concludes that the water supply was too slow, not too low, and even a functioning reservoir likely wouldn’t have stopped the Palisades Fire.
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.”
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
-
In her first public statements since controversy erupted over millions of unaccounted for tax dollars, Rhiannon Do says she’s no longer with the O.C. nonprofit Viet America Society. She also says she never had a leadership role. Public documents show otherwise. -
After San Gabriel's city council rejected the proposal as "too narrow", one city councilmember argued the entire DEI commission, created in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, had "run its course." -
A medical industry challenge to a $25 minimum wage ordinance in one Southern California city suggests health workers statewide could face layoffs and reductions in hours and benefits under a state law set to begin phasing in in June. Some experts are skeptical, however, that it will have such effects. -
“It was a downer,” said Agustin Ruelas, the co-owner at Brewjeria, the Latino and POC-owned craft brewery in Pico Rivera. “We just wanted to honor Selena.” -
Sandhill cranes are returning to the Lake Tahoe basin after a century long hiatus in what many say is a conservation success story. -
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara in March after Ohtani's lawyers accused him of stealing millions of dollars from the baseball player to place bets with an Orange County-based bookie.
Best of LAist
