The California Public Services Commission voted Thursday to allow Edison in Southern California to increase the electric rates to cover the payments made to the victims of the devastating Fire Wildfire 2017.
The researchers discovered that the public service company team caused the fire, one of the greatest in California history. Fire devastation also helped stimulate catastrophic debris flows in Montecito, which killed 23.
Without discussion, the Commission approved the increase in rates by a 4-0 vote. The vote means that more than $ 1.6 billion of the $ 2.7 billion that Edison paid more than 5,000 victims of the fire will be covered by its customers. The rest will be paid by the shareholders of the company for profit.
Edison said he planned to minimize the impact on customers by spreading the cost for 30 years. Most customers would see an increase in their monthly bill of around $ 1, the company said.
The commissioners approved the increase in rates despite the dozens of written comments of the public saying that it was not fair to make customers pay the costs of a forest fire that state and local government researchers had determined that the company's team of public services had started.
“Relow Edison of his duties to provide safe and reliable services by forcing his clients to pay the invoice for their absolute negligence is excessive,” Emma Mailey, resident of Los Angeles, wrote. He added that such action “will not teach them anything and lead to more inaction by Edison.”
Edison played the investigators' claims that their actions negligently caused the fire, saying in a Press release Last year he had “prudently operated his system, administering it in or above what regulators require.”
“Climate change is promoting catastrophic forest fires,” said Pedro Pizarro, president of Edison International, in the statement: “And SCE will continue his work to mitigate the effects.”
The company has also asked the commission to approve an increase in the second rate for $ 5.4 billion in payments of the victims of the devastating Woolsey Fire 2018, which the Commission will consider on a later date. The researchers found that Edison's team also caused that fire.
Combined, the two proposals would increase rates by more than 2%.
California electric rates are the second highest in the nation. Edison's rates have increased 48% in the last three years, according to An December report by the Office of Public Defenders of the Public Services Commission.
After the vote, Alice Reynolds, president of the commission, said that if she and the other members had not approved the conciliation agreement, it could have led to a litigation “with an unknown result.”
Reynolds and the other members of the Commission were appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
She said the commission was operating under a legal standard in a 2019 law that said that if the public service company team caused a forest fire, but it was discovered that the company acted “prudently” the costs would be covered by customers .
The 2019 law, known as AB 1054, created a forest fire insurance fund. Thomas and Woolsey's fires do not qualify for background money because they occurred before the law was approved.
The Edison team is now under scrutiny following the Eaton Fire Storm in Altadena, which killed at least 17 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
The lawyers representing the victims indicate videos of cell phones taken by eyewitnesses that show the first flames under the company's transmission tower in Eaton Canyon.
Edison said he is carrying out his own research while cooperating with government fire investigators investigating the cause of hell.
Thomas 2017's fire swept almost 282,000 acres in the counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara, destroying more than 1,000 structures and causing two deaths.
The researchers said that Edison's team was the cause of two separate ignitions on December 4, 2017, near Santa Paula. The two fires finally merged.
Fire Fire and Ventura county fire investigators said an ignition was caused by an electric cable that fell and lit. The other ignition occurred, the researchers said, when two cables slapped, releasing molten metal to the vegetation.
The Security and Compliance Division later said that the company had violated five rules and regulations, including lack of cooperation with researchers.
In January 2018, while the fire still burned, heavy rains led to debris flows in Montecito. The authorities said that mud and rocks were evicted in part due to the impact of fire on vegetation and soil.
Edison has argued that his team was not responsible for one of the two Ignitions. And he says that he does not agree with the findings of the Division of Security and Control of the Commission that had violated any rule or regulations, including the claim that he had not cooperated with the researchers.
Terrie Prosper, a commission spokeswoman, said that although the agency execution staff identified the violations, the Commission approved a 2021 agreement with Edison that did not find violations related to the Thomas fire. As part of that agreement, Edison agreed $ 550 million in financial sanctions for multiple forest fires, including Fire Thomas.
Edison said that blames and deaths caused by the debris of Montecito flows to “inadequate government flood control infrastructure and poor evacuation communications.”
