October 2, 2001
Southern California Edison today announced the settlement of its Filed Rate Doctrine lawsuit with the California Public Utilities Commission that will enable SCE to develop a plan to pay off its creditors and prevent another utility bankruptcy in California. The settlement, filed today in U.S. District Court, was crafted in response to the lawsuit Edison filed nearly a year ago based on the fact that state regulators were preventing Edison from collecting sufficient retail rates to pay for the actual cost of power it was purchasing last year on behalf of its customers. The following statement was issued by Edison International Chairman, President and CEO John E. Bryson.
ROSEMEAD, Calif., October 2, 2001—Throughout the entire energy crisis, Edison has had just one goal: to become creditworthy again so that the State of California could get out of the electricity-buying business and Edison employees could get back to what they do best—provide safe, secure power to Edison customers.
Today’s federal court settlement agreement between Edison and the California Public Utilities Commission is a workable way for Edison to become creditworthy, to remove the state from the power business, and to allow Edison to return to its core mission of delivering reliable electricity service.
Particularly at this time of national crisis and a fragile California economy, it is vital to avoid the great uncertainty of potential bankruptcy and lawsuits. By guaranteeing rate stability and making Edison creditworthy, this federal court settlement is in the best interest of California consumers.
[See the CPUC's press release and Consumer Benefits of the Filed Rate Doctrine Lawsuit Settlement.]
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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. For more information on the California electricity crisis, see www.sce.com.
