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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Corporate Communications, (626) 302-2255
www.edisonnews.com
SCE Says FERC Order Fails to Protect Californians
from Unjust and Unreasonable Electricity Prices
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 15, 2000--Southern California Edison expressed deep
disappointment with today's order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC), charging that the Commission's actions will do nothing to protect
California from unjust and unreasonable wholesale electricity prices.
"FERC has found that prices are unjust and unreasonable, but refuses to take the
necessary action to protect consumers and utilities from these prices," said SCE
Chairman, President & CEO Stephen E. Frank.
SCE had urged FERC to adopt cost-based pricing rules, allowing each seller to
bid into the market at its variable operating cost. FERC took this cost-based
approach during the initial operation of the restructured PJM pool, covering the
states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
"Instead, FERC has worsened the situation in the state by replacing our existing
hard cap with a so-called 'soft cap'," Frank continued. "We've had FERC's 'soft
cap' in place for this past week, and prices skyrocketed. "
Prices this past week were as high as $1,400/MWh. In contrast, SCE sold power
from the plants it once owned at an average of $31/MWh during the month of
December in previous years.
"FERC's failure to carry out its responsibilities under the Federal Power Act to
ensure just and reasonable wholesale prices poses a serious threat to the
California economy," Frank concluded. "Now state officials need to act quickly
to adopt our rate stabilization proposal to ensure that SCE is financially
strong enough to protect consumers from price volatility. We also urge state
officials to reform and, where necessary, re-regulate California's electric
system if we are to avoid severe economic dislocation in the state and
potentially the entire nation."
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An Edison International company, Southern California Edison is one of the
nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 11
million via 4.3 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area
within central, coastal and Southern California.
