SCE Customers to See Lower Energy Bills

Beginning Aug. 1, Southern California Edison customers will pay 3% to 19% less for electricity, giving millions of Californians their first tangible relief from the 2000-01 energy crisis that paralyzed the state and sent prices soaring.

Under a one-year, $1.2-billion rate reduction plan approved by regulators Thursday, 4.5 million Edison utility bills will reflect rate cuts in proportion with the extra amounts customers have paid since late 2001 to help the utility repay debts incurred during the crisis.

The average bill for Edison customers will fall by 13%, with the smallest rate cut going to residential customers -- 8% on average -- and the biggest cuts going to large businesses, which will see cuts averaging 13% to 19%. The California Public Utilities Commission estimated the average residential customer (using 500 kilowatt hours of electricity a month) would save about $2 monthly.

“We’ve been saying for some time now that California has turned the corner on the electricity crisis,” said Susan P. Kennedy, one of five commissioners on the state PUC. “But today’s vote is the only thing that counts, because as long as the ratepayers are still shelling out dollars for the highest rates in the country, nothing else we have done matters one whit.”

Although the new rates are higher than pre-crisis levels, Gov. Gray Davis, who has promised additional electricity rate cuts, called the PUC action “good news for ratepayers and our economy.”

Rosemead-based Edison provides electricity for 12 million people in Central and Southern California. The state’s largest utility, PG&E; Corp.’s Pacific Gas & Electric Co., is operating under Bankruptcy Court protection and rate reductions have not yet been set for its customers.

Edison’s rate rollback ends a price increase ordered by the PUC in the fall of 2001 to help the then-financially strapped utility repay $3.6 billion in debt it incurred buying power at exorbitant prices during the energy crisis. That debt will be paid off by the end of this month, clearing the way for the rate reductions to go into effect next month.

The regulators’ decision to come to Edison’s aid was opposed by the Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a San Francisco-based consumer group that argued that the PUC lacked the authority to settle claims with Edison by unilaterally instituting a rate hike. The group filed a lawsuit over the issue, and the state Supreme Court is expected to rule soon.

TURN staff attorney Matt Freedman called Thursday’s rate drop “bittersweet,” because it includes more residential customers in the price cut but still falls well short of the $4 billion TURN believes Edison owes its customers.

Other moves also could affect ratepayers, including an Edison proposal to hike rates 3%, or $286 million; a $1-billion rate cut proposal by Davis, which would include about $400 million for Edison ratepayers; and pending claims against power-generating companies accused of illegally manipulating the state’s energy market.

Shares of Edison’s parent, Edison International, fell 31 cents to $16.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Rate rollback

Southern California Edison customers will see lower bills beginning next month, as the higher electricity rates imposed during the state’s energy crisis are formally reduced.

*--* Current New Pct Type of customer avg. bill avg. bill reduction Residential* $66.46 $64.38 3% Small business $150.00 $122.00 19% Medium business (ex.: gas station) $2,140.00 $1,860.00 13% Large business (ex.: factory) $52,400.00 $42,400.00 19% * For a household that uses 500 kilowatt-hours *--*

Source: Southern California Edison