December 13, 2002
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Administrative Law Judge Bruce Birchman on Dec. 12, 2002, issued a proposed decision determining that electricity generators owe California $1.8 billion in refunds. In response, SCE Senior Vice President and General Counsel Stephen E. Pickett issued the following statement.
ROSEMEAD, Calif., Dec. 13, 2002 - SCE is pleased that the ALJ, within the limited scope of this proceeding, adopted many of the positions of the California parties in determining that $1.8 billion in refunds is due to California consumers.
The proposed decision, however, is just one step in a long process of determining exactly what is owed to California. Still pending before FERC are important issues dealing with manipulation of the electricity market prior to October, 2000, as well as manipulation of natural gas markets and indices. SCE believes that once FERC completes it review of all of the evidence and resolves all of these cases, total refunds to California consumers should be much larger.
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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 12 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.