News Releases

February 21, 2002

Continues Deferral of Shareholder Distributions to Parent, Edison International

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Feb. 21, 2002-To meet preferred stock cumulative dividend requirements, the Board of Directors of Southern California Edison (SCE) today declared the payment of all past-due dividends on its preferred stock.  SCE is seeking to complete financing that, with cash on hand, will enable the company to pay off its past-due obligations on or about March 1, 2002.  The dividends are contingent on SCE completing that financing before the dividend record date.  

The past-due preferred stock dividends are payable March 11, 2002, to shareholders of record on March 4, 2002, and will be paid for each of the quarters ending during the period from Feb. 28, 2001, through Feb. 28, 2002, as shown in the attached table.

SCE will continue the temporary deferral of shareholder distributions to its parent company, Edison International (NYSE:EIX), in compliance with the Oct. 2, 2001, agreement settling SCE's lawsuit against the California Public Utilities Commission.  That settlement makes possible the recovery of the utility's past power procurement debt.

In addition, the Board declared the current quarterly preferred stock dividends payable in March-$.27 per share on the 4.32% series of cumulative preferred stock, $1.5125 per share on the 6.05% series, and $1.6125 per share on the 6.45% series of $100 cumulative preferred stock.  Each of these dividends is payable March 31, 2002, to shareholders of record on March 5, 2002.  The Board also declared the quarterly preferred stock dividend payable in April-$1.8075 per share on the 7.23% series of $100 cumulative preferred stock.  This dividend is payable on April 30, 2002, to shareholders of record on April 5, 2002.  These actions are contingent on SCE completing financing before March 4.

SCE preferred stock dividends were suspended in early 2001 when adverse financial circumstances created by California's energy crisis made a number of cash conservation measures necessary.

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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 market, see www.sce.com.

TABLE OF PAST DUE PREFERRED STOCK DIVIDENDS
TO BE PAID BY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON
(Subject to completing financing before March 4, 2002)
Record Date:  March 4, 2002
Payment Date:  March 11, 2002