Appeals Court Rejects Cities’ Claim of Abuses by Edison

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected claims by three cities that Southern California Edison Co. abused its monopoly power by restricting their access to interstate transmission lines.

The cities of Anaheim, Riverside and Vernon, which all receive electricity over Edison’s lines, complained about the limits imposed by Edison on access to the Pacific Intertie, which carries relatively inexpensive power from the Northwest.

Anaheim and Riverside asked Edison for guaranteed, continual access to the Pacific Intertie but the utility refused, saying it needed the transmission capacity itself to serve all its customers.

Edison offered only intermittent, interruptible access to the Intertie, which the cities said would not let them buy the supplies they needed. They accused Edison of using its monopoly status to cut off their use of an essential facility.

Edison also denied Vernon’s request for guaranteed access to the Intertie and to transmission lines from the Southwest in proportion to its share of overall electricity use in the area.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that Edison’s actions did not violate federal antitrust laws.

The Pacific Intertie was not an “essential facility” to Anaheim and Riverside because they could buy electricity at reasonable rates from other sources, Judge Ferdinand Fernandez said in the ruling. Even if the Intertie was essential, he added, Edison had a legal reason for denying access to a few customers in order to serve a larger group.

“The cities seem to contend that Edison had to disable itself so that they can get cheap power,” Fernandez said. “The cities desired to benefit their customers at the expense of all of the other customers of Edison.”

In a separate 3-0 ruling, Fernandez said the access sought by Vernon would have required Edison to increase retail electricity rates to other customers, a legitimate reason for Edison’s refusal.

Both rulings upheld decisions in Edison’s favor by U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer of Los Angeles.