Regulators granted Southern California Edison approval to recover from its ratepayers $207 million in wildfire liability insurance premiums the utility incurred in 2020, but denied its request to collect $7 million for coverage previously allocated to the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station nondisclosure trust fund.
At its May 18 voting meeting, the California Public Utilities Commission authorized SCE to recover $207 million, or 50 percent, of insurance premiums recorded from July 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, for the policy period of July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. The utility's acquisition of incremental wildfire insurance policies of about $1 billion was "prudent," according to the commission's proposed decision, written by Administrative Law Judge Rajan Mutialu.
In a separate proposed decision, commissioners adopted an "uncontested settlement agreement" between SCE, the CPUC's Public Advocates Office and The Utility Reform Network addressing SCE's wildfire liability insurance costs for 2023 and 2024. The agreement would result in a reduction of $80 million in SCE's authorized 2023 revenue requirement and "a potential $160 million reduction" for 2024, "as well as other potential savings and benefits to ratepayers."
The following items were also approved by commissioners on May 18:
- Implementation of a process for the low-income customer assistance program concurrent application system, as required by Senate Bill 1208, passed in 2022. The concurrent application system, or CAS, directs the development of a program design by which the California Alternate Rates for Energy, Energy Savings Assistance and Family Electric Rate Assistance programs could be integrated into a single statewide application process [D19-06-022].
- Approval of a resolution directing SCE, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric to make certain modifications to the Emergency Load Reduction Program.
- Identification of a tracking plan for designated recommendations from NorthStar reports on PG&E's safety data.
- Approval of an order instituting rulemaking for existing General Order 131-D, which addresses the siting of electric transmission infrastructure. The OIR opens a proceeding to update and amend the general order to update permitting of transmission lines and substations that operate at or below 200 kV.
The commission's next voting meeting is scheduled for June 8.
