Page Denies That SCE Has Taken Control

San Diego Gas & Electric Chairman Thomas Page on Wednesday denied a local consumer group’s allegations that executives from Southern California Edison have taken control of the San based utility.

“Contrary to what some might suggest, I’m not being ‘puppetized,’ ” Page said Wednesday during an interview in his downtown San Diego office. “I am in charge of this business, I am running this corporation on a daily basis.”

Page denied Utility Consumer Action Network’s charge that SDG&E; employees are violating state Public Utilities Commission regulations by turning over proprietary information to Edison.

But Page acknowledged that some business decisions--such as substantial purchases of power from other utilities and major expenditures--are logically being made “in concert with Edison,” in order to achieve “lower-cost results.” Page, however, maintained that decisions made after consultation with Edison will help to reduce rates for SDG&E; customers.

Page denied that he is calling Edison Chairman Howard Allen “every day for instructions, or that Edison is issuing decrees” on how to run SDG&E;’s gas and electric divisions while the two companies prepare for regulatory reviews of their proposed merger.

“I haven’t talked to Howard in several weeks,” Page said. “He’s got business to attend to, and I’ve got my own business.”

Page also hinted that San Diego’s political leaders, “who would love for Edison to move a significant portion of its enterprise to town,” might better serve their constituents by “supporting me and this company rather than bludgeoning me.”

San Diego would stand a better chance of persuading Edison to relocate operations within the county “if there was an outpouring of support for me as opposed to against me,” Page said.

Although he acknowledged that Edison would not move its 4,000-person corporate headquarters to San Diego, Page suggested that San Diego might eventually serve as home to one or more of Edison’s many departments or divisions.

Page included Edison’s computer center, a massive bank of telephone service operators and its non-utility businesses on a list of operations that, conceivably, could move to San Diego. Page also suggested that Edison might give serious thought to moving SCEcorp, its Rosemead-based holding company, to San Diego.

San Diego’s chances of attracting some Edison operations would be improved “by having a constructive attitude, rather than bludgeoning me,” Page said.

Page also contended that San Diego’s political leaders “should be patient and wait until there are some facts on the table” before objecting to the proposed merger with Edison.

Although it is too early to catalogue those operational savings, Page maintained that, “if this merger is going to make sense . . . the facts will have to cry out to the people and they will have to cry out logically.”

“Let’s be patient and wait until there are facts on the table,” Page said. “If we can’t prove that there are benefits to the customers, then (regulators) will have an increasingly difficult time with this merger.”

‘A Very Hard Look’

Page maintained that an SDG&E; poll released Monday showed that the public has very little interest in the government taking over SDG&E.; That poll, which did not ask respondents whether they favored the merger with Southern California Edison, leads Page to believe that the political leadership has to be careful about spending the public’s money emotionally on taking over SDG&E.;

Political leaders will “have to take a very hard look” at a takeover if SDG&E; and Edison prove that their merger would produce lower rates than a government-owned utility, Page said.

During Wednesday’s interview, Page also said that:

- No Edison employees are working full-time in San Diego. “They come and go, and we have provided office space for them,” Page said.

- SDG&E; will not replace two corporate directors who recently resigned to protest the proposed merger with Edison. Seven remaining directors “are expected to stand for re-election” at an upcoming shareholder meeting, Page said.

- SDG&E; will “probably not go back and visit” with Tucson Electric Power if the proposed merger with Edison falls through.

SDG&E; had planned a “friendly” merger with TEP. That merger agreement fell apart, however, when SDG&E; and TEP were unable to agree on how to fend off Edison’s unsolicited merger offer.

“We would have to start our scanning mechanism again to see if it makes sense to go forward” with another merger, Page said.

- SDG&E; will become more vocal in its opposition to a government takeover of SDG&E.;

“I think our poll was a good move in that direction,” said Page, who has conducted four interviews with reporters during the past two days. He will conduct a half a dozen more interviews in coming days.