January 5, 2001

Southern California Edison Company (SCE) today released the following statement in response to the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denying SCE's petition for a writ of mandamus:

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Jan. 5, 2001-While we are extremely disappointed by today's decision of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, it is important to note that the decision is not a ruling on the merits of our claim.  The court has expressed the expectation that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will rule on our rehearing petition in a timely manner.

The prices that we are witnessing in California, in both the spot and forward markets, have stayed unconscionably high since the FERC's December 15 order, demonstrating that the FERC's market remedies are ineffective.  For the month of December, all revenues to the company, including those from the company's remaining power generation units, fell short of the costs of the power we supplied our customers by $24 million a day, for a December total of about $750 million.

SCE has pursued every path available to it to compel the FERC to enforce the law requiring remedial action on rates the FERC has found to be unjust and unreasonable.  SCE believes that the FERC has a legal obligation to impose just and reasonable cost-based rates in the dysfunctional California wholesale market and we urge the FERC to act on our petition quickly.  

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An Edison International company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 11 million via 4.3 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal and Southern California.