Edison Seeks Interim Rate Hike; Summer Bills Would Rise About $4

Southern California Edison on Friday asked that it be allowed to boost its electric rates by $352 million, or 5.7%, starting July 1 to cover expected higher prices for fuel and power.

The increase, if approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, would be in addition to Edison’s regularly scheduled request this May for a rate adjustment to reflect changes that it anticipates in its fuel costs after next Jan. 1.

Edison said the increase it asked for Friday would boost a monthly summer bill to $54.76 from the current $50.64 for what it calls a typical residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

The utility said its request in May will include further increases in its energy costs that it is projecting for next year. But it said they will be offset by other rate decreases.

“The result will be that electric rates to many of our customers in January, 1990, likely will be less than in July, 1989,” the company said.

Edison said part of the increase in its costs is due to sharply higher prices for natural gas, which it uses to power the boilers that generate electricity. Gas prices have jumped because of shortages here and elsewhere.

Edison also blamed the drought, which has dried up supplies of cheap hydroelectric power that had to be replaced with costlier sources of power, and a big increase in the amount of electricity it has to buy from independent producers.

Edison said it will be required to buy 54% more energy from independent power producers over the next 12 months. Much of that power, including that purchased from one of Edison’s sister companies, costs more than electricity that Edison could produce itself or buy elsewhere.

The utility is required to buy such independently produced power under federal legislation enacted in the 1970s to foster the development of alternative-energy industries. Edison’s parent SCEcorp formed Mission Energy to make and sell such power to Edison and other utilities.

Edison said it will have to start buying energy from 50 new independent power producers next year, including four owned in part by Mission Energy. The producers range from large cogeneration plants to small solar facilities or other renewable-energy operations.