Edison chief will retire with rich rewards
Edison International Chairman and Chief Executive John E. Bryson, who led the utility parent through the disastrous energy market meltdown in 2000-01, will retire this summer with a pension plan and stock options that at the end of 2007 were worth almost $65 million.
Bryson, who hits the company’s mandatory retirement age of 65 at the end of July, isn’t receiving any retirement-related payments apart from a $16.8-million pension, which can be collected in a lump sum or over time, according to a securities document filed by the company late Friday.
The vested stock options, earned by Bryson over his 24-year tenure at Edison, were worth $48 million, based on Edison’s year-end stock price of $53.37. The options’ ultimate value depends on when Bryson converts them to shares and sells the stock.
Edison shares rose 5 cents to $48.96 on Monday.
Rosemead-based Edison owns Southern California Edison, which provides power to 13 million people in a 50,000-square-mile area of central and southern California. The company also owns Edison Mission Energy, an unregulated power producer.
The company was on the brink of bankruptcy during the state’s energy crisis, but was rescued when the state stepped in to spare the utility from buying power at soaring prices. In the years since, regulatory decisions have helped Edison recover and the company’s overall financial performance has steadily improved.
But consumer groups note that the last several years have brought Edison’s customers steadily rising electric bills.
Electricity rates, still well above pre-crisis levels, will go down for Edison customers by about 1.5% this year as the utility returns about $430 million it over-collected from ratepayers in 2007. If a pending rate hike is approved and natural gas prices continue to rise, the company expects the average residential bill to jump $9 per month in 2009.
“From the customer’s perspective, the customers would have liked to see him bring rates down, not to keep raising them,” consumer advocate Mindy Spatt said of Bryson. “If he had done a great job in that regard, we wouldn’t begrudge him a nice retirement. But times are hard for the customers of Edison, and Edison has asked for a rate hike.”
Spatt, spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network in San Francisco, added that such compensation isn’t considered out of line, especially compared with the headline-grabbing $81-million retirement package for Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman Anthony Mozilo. Even so, she said, “utilities should not be allowed to spend the public’s money this way.”
She also noted that the utility’s reputation has taken a hit in recent years. Spatt cited a seven-year fraud at Edison in which workers rigged customer satisfaction surveys and submitted employee safety reports that allowed the utility to collect millions of dollars in customer-funded performance incentives.
More recently, state regulators told Edison that some employees had complained that they were retaliated against by the company after they complained about actions that they believed violated state rules.
Bryson’s 2007 compensation totaled $11.7 million in salary, stock and option awards, incentive payouts, pension increases and perks. The total value was down 7.9% from 2006.
In addition to what’s immediately available to him upon his retirement, Bryson is eligible for a maximum payment of $5.9 million in stock awards, depending on Edison’s performance in 2008 and 2009. He’ll also take with him previously earned options for an additional 741,875 shares that he could cash in at prices of $21.875 to $47.41 over nine years.
Edison also owes Bryson nearly $23 million in deferred compensation for salary he didn’t take in previous years.
Theodore F. Craver Jr., chairman of Edison Mission Group and Bryson’s successor at the parent company, collected total compensation of $3.7 million, down 21.5%. Al Fohrer, chairman of the utility, received $3.8 million in total compensation, down 22.3%.
The largest share of the declines stemmed from lower stock awards and options in 2007.
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