SCE’s Customers May Pay the $1.2 Billion Owed

Customers of Edison International’s Southern California Edison may end up paying $1.2 billion the company is supposed to contribute to the utility’s recovery, consumer advocates said.

Under a recovery settlement for Southern California Edison reached in October, Edison shareholders would contribute $1.2 billion in dividends to the utility. A resolution being considered next week by the California Public Utilities Commission would require the utility’s customers to repay that sum, the PUC’s consumer-protection division said.

“Ratepayers paying every dollar back does not constitute a contribution by any reasonable definition I can think of,” said Steve Linsey, a supervisor in the PUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates.

Rosemead-based Edison’s shares fell 36 cents to $15.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.