Southern California Edison Pushing for Wildfire Liability Deal Before Lawmakers Depart

Electric utility Southern California Edison is urging California lawmakers to hold a special session before year-end to consider limiting utilities’ exposure to future wildfire liabilities, CEO of parent company Edison International EIX.N Pedro Pizarro said this week. Electric utility infrastructure has been linked to multiple widespread and deadly California wildfires over the last decade, with the most recent catastrophic Los Angeles fires in January 2025 taking more than two dozen lives, causing billions of dollars in property damage and prompting thousands of lawsuits. Related: Southern California Edison Chief Warns Wildfire Impasse Risks Higher Customer Bills Southern California Edison grid equipment is being investigated for causing the Eaton Fire at that time, which started in the Los Angeles County foothills near Altadena. California lawmakers last month failed to pass a plan for how wildfire victims in the state get paid, and what investor-owned electric utilities like Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric are on the hook for when their equipment sparks the blazes. A separate, broader, wildfire liability legislative package that was backed by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and investor-owned electric utilities in the state also failed to materialize in the weeks prior. Shares of California electric utilities plummeted after the legislative breakdown on concerns the companies could face uncapped wildfire liabilities. Fitch this month also revised down Southern California Edison’s credit outlook to negative from stable, which could make borrowing costs higher for the capital-intensive business. Newsom, whose term ends in January, would need to call the special session in the coming months, but quickly reaching a new framework agreement to put before lawmakers could be challenging, Pizarro said. “To get there, that also means we need to push for a deal. Something that’s workable, that actually solves a structural issue for California,” Pizarro said. That would involve getting various interest groups to agree on a solution, or the framework of a solution, that the legislature could vote on, he said. “If that were the case, I think you could have a pretty targeted special session and get this done,” he added. If a special session is not called before the end of the year — and ideally before the November elections — any new wildfire plans will be hammered out by a new governor and many newly elected legislators who will need time to get up to speed on the complex issue that has evolved over years, Pizarro said. “In the meantime, California customers are paying a lot of extra money because of the instability in the market,” he said, adding the uncertainty was resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional debt costs. (Reporting by Kearney in New York; Editing by Liz Hampton and Chris Reese) Top photo: 2025 Pacific Palisades fire. Photo by CalFire. Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Legislation Wildfire Liability