Edison Withholds Data in PUC Merger Probe

Southern California Edison has refused to give state Public Utilities Commission staff members access to “basic and essential information” about its non-regulated companies, according to PUC staff members who represent the public in the review of Edison’s proposed merger with San Diego Gas & Electric.

Investigators with the PUC’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates want the information to help determine how the proposed utility merger would affect Edison’s non-regulated businesses, many of which generate electrical power that is sold to Edison.

The advocates division “will be powerless to conduct meaningful discovery on an important and relevant subject” if Edison continues to refuse requests for information, Philip Weismehl, an attorney for the division, said Monday. The division has asked an administrative judge to order Edison to turn over the documents. It was uncertain Monday when the law judge would rule on the request.

Edison, in recent PUC filings, has argued that the information requested by the advocates division “is not reasonably related” to the PUC’s review of the merger. Edison also complained that the division had improperly asked for confidential information about Edison business partners.

“We’ve gotten information on other topics (associated with the proposed merger), but on the subject of its unregulated affiliates, Edison has said nothing,” Weismehl said. “And some of the information we’re asking for is pretty basic stuff, like names and addresses. That’s pretty fundamental.”

Edison has “made a wholesale objection to DRA’s data requests, basically asserting that the information requested is outside the scope of the merger” review, according to Weismehl.

Edison’s decision to withhold information “conflicts with the (PUC’s) express intent” of investigating the relationship between Edison and its subsidiaries, Weismehl said.

Although the advocates division complained of a shortage of information provided by Edison, Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers Action Network, a San Diego-based consumer group, registered the opposite complaint.

Shames said he was overwhelmed by Edison’s response to his request for a brief summary about power purchase contracts with SDG&E.; “I got 180,000 pages, which is 1,200 pounds of paper, which they shipped in 40 boxes,” Shames said. “SDG&E; responded to the same request with a five-page summary.”