November 14, 2001
CalEnergy today issued a news release stating it had filed a lawsuit in Imperial County Superior Court charging Southern California Edison with breach of contract regarding payment for past purchases of power from its "qualifying facility" (QF) projects. SCE Vice President of External Affairs Brian Bennett offered the following response.
ROSEMEAD, Calif., November 14, 2001-We categorically reject as untrue the claim that SCE has breached any settlement agreement with CalEnergy or otherwise acted inappropriately. And we are surprised that the company has commented publicly while negotiations are underway that both parties agreed would be confidential.
As we stated following the Oct. 5 settlement agreement with the California Public Utilities Commission, we hope to be able to pay all of our creditors during the first quarter of 2002. Meanwhile, we believe it is important to deal fairly and equitably with all creditors and not to single out one group for preferential payments.
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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.