SCE Asks $528 Million In Rate Hikes To Pay For Safety And Blackout Equipment
Written by 991KBU on September 11, 2018
Southern California Edison is asking for a half billion dollars from its ratepayers to improve fire safety along its power poles.
582 million dollars … in rate increases … to be exact.
And Edison vice president says “the devastation caused by the 2017 and 2018 wildfires leaves no doubt that wildfire risk has increased to the point where California needs to reassess the way we collectively prepare for and prevent wildfires.”
The company says it is going far beyond traditional safety practices and using what they call “a holistic approach.”
This includes replacing about 600 miles of overhead power lines in high fire risk areas with insulated wire … over the next three years.
Another 34 hundred miles of power lines will be replaced in future years.
Edison has millions of miles of overhead power lines.
While the company acknowledges that just 10 percent of wildfire ignitions in California are from power lines … it says that in its service area more than half of ignitions are caused when metallic balloons, tree limbs and palm fronds come into contact with power lines.
The new plastic insulated power lines will be heavier then existing bare wires … and the company will have to use fire-resistant poles made of plastic based cement to support the increased weight and diameter of the insulated wire.
The company is also going to install another 700 remote control weather stations … in addition to the 125 already installed … to detect heavy winds and shut off power when utility engineers decide the lines are at risk.
And the utility is planning to inspect all trees within 200 feet of its electric facilities and remove or prune trees that could strike the equipment.
At a legislative hearing three years ago … a state senator asked if Southern California Edison needs more money for fire safety.
An official at the California Public Utilities Commission said he could not answer that.
And he went further.
He said the CPUC does not know … if money already collected by Southern California Edison for fire safety improvements has been spent on that … or diverted to other accounts.
Southern California Edison as a profit margin of between 10 and 15 percent on its equity … about 5 percent profits per year for its shareholders.
