SCE’s Commitment to Helping Rebuild Los Angeles

For nearly 140 years, Southern California Edison has been part of the communities we serve across Greater Los Angeles. The heartbreaking losses suffered in the January 2025 wildfires were deeply personal to every team member at Edison International and SCE, and our thoughts remain with all who were impacted.

When the wildfires ignited across Southern California on Jan. 7, our teams sprang into action to support emergency response efforts, with safety as our number one priority. Within days, over 3,500 SCE crew members, contractors and mutual assistance personnel were on the ground working to restore power. Crews worked tirelessly for weeks and restored power to all customers who could safely take service by Feb. 21. While much of the restoration work is now complete, the road forward to rebuild, and to rebuild stronger than ever, is just beginning.

As we move forward with rebuilding, we remain fully committed to supporting a thorough, transparent investigation of the cause of the Eaton Fire. While the cause remains unknown at this time, we take seriously the possibility that SCE’s equipment was involved in the ignition. We are working closely with authorities to better understand the events that led to this tragedy and will share details throughout the investigation. Our customers deserve transparency.

Engaging With Our Communities

Following the wildfires, team members immediately started working on a clear plan to build back stronger. Building back stronger means hearing directly from communities about what matters most. Since January, over 50 listening sessions have been held to hear from community members, with input from customers, elected officials, local businesses and clergy members to better understand their experiences, perspectives and concerns. This input has been instrumental in shaping SCE’s rebuilding plan.

In April, we submitted initial rebuilding plans in a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom, outlining work underway and initiatives being explored to support the rebuild of impacted electrical distribution equipment in the Altadena and Malibu areas.

Much of the rebuilding work is already underway, including undergrounding hundreds of miles of distribution power lines and integrating advanced technologies. This work will make Altadena and Malibu more resilient and secure, while being powered by clean and affordable energy.

Increased Undergrounding

Undergrounding distribution power lines has important safety, reliability and resiliency benefits including reducing the risk of wildfire. Importantly, placing these power lines underground reduces the need for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), which lessens the impacts and frustrations for customers during extreme weather and high fire risk conditions. Typically, projects to underground lines can take years to complete because of lengthy permitting, planning and construction processes. In the burn scar areas, projects are being expedited, and some lines will be finished in months, thanks to cooperation among city, county and other agencies.

In Altadena and neighboring SCE-served areas, more than 40 circuit miles of power lines will be moved underground in high fire risk areas (HFRA). Two circuit miles are already under construction, with completion expected in the coming months.

In Malibu and neighboring SCE-served areas within and near the Palisades Fire burn scar, more than 90 circuit miles will be undergrounded. This includes nearly all distribution circuits in the current HFRA boundary, most of which was already targeted for undergrounding as part of our Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Sixteen circuit miles are underway, with completion expected this year.

Power lines that are not being placed underground are being hardened with coated wire, called covered conductor, which further reduces the risk of wildfire ignitions when trees and debris contact the line. Across SCE’s service area, more than 6,500 miles of power lines have already been upgraded with this coated wire.

Grid Hardening Using Technology

Consistent with our grid hardening plans throughout the service area, we are designing underground systems with more automated switching and technology to detect faults and improve the ability to locate issues, reduce disruptions to as few customers as possible and restore service faster. These upgrades should reduce the frequency and duration of any customer outages. Importantly, the new infrastructure will have increased capacity to accommodate future electrical demand in these communities.

Building A More Resilient, Cleaner Future

Our rebuilding plans also represent an important opportunity to increase community resiliency. We are exploring ways to create designated community resiliency zones for extended emergencies, using battery storage at facilities like schools. Battery backups are also being provided for critical care customers who require electric service for life-sustaining equipment, and as customers rebuild, our team will work with builders to install electric vehicle chargers and other clean energy technology like heat pumps.

We have ambitious goals for rebuilding and will hold ourselves accountable to achieving them. We live and work in these communities, and we take seriously the responsibility to build back the power system stronger and more resilient than ever.

And when we experience the next extreme weather event, our communities will be more resilient and better prepared to safely power through. That’s our commitment to you.