Rehearing Sought on Edison Rescue

The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco consumer advocacy group, asked the California Supreme Court for a rehearing of the high court’s Aug. 21 decision upholding a rescue agreement that allowed Southern California Edison to pay off $3.6 billion in debts run up during the energy crisis.

The court ruled unanimously that the California Public Utilities Commission had the authority under state law to enter into the agreement with Edison. On a 6-1 vote, the justices said the agreement, which was hammered out in secret, did not violate an open-meetings law because the regulators were discussing the settlement of litigation.

In its petition for rehearing, the group argued that the court, in allowing Edison to recover old electricity costs, misread state utility law designed to balance utility and consumer interests. The decision provided “a remarkable and regrettable endorsement of secret government making back-room deals,” the group said.

Nancy Rivera Brooks