Southern California Edison
Electrical utility in Southern California, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles.[lower-alpha 1]
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Electric utilities |
Headquarters | 2244 Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead, CA 91770 |
Area served | Central, Coastal & Southern California |
Key people | Steven Powell CEO |
Products | Electricity generation Electric power transmission Electric power distribution |
Number of employees | 13,388 (2013)[1] |
Parent | Edison International |
Website | sce |
This article needs to be updated. (July 2023) |
SCE still owns all of its electrical transmission facilities and equipment, but the deregulation of California's electricity market in the late 1990s forced the company to sell many of its power plants, though some were probably sold by choice. In California, SCE retained only its hydroelectric plants, totaling about 1,200 MW, and its 75% share of the 2,150-MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which has been shut down since January 2012; in June 2013 the company announced its intention to permanently close and decommission the nuclear plant.[3] The utility lost all of its natural gas-fired plants, which provided most of its electrical generation. The large, aging plants were bought by out-of-state companies such as Mirant and Reliant Energy, which allegedly used them to manipulate the California energy market.[4]
Southern California Edison's power grid is linked to PG&E's by the Path 26 wires that generally follow Interstate 5 over Tejon Pass. The interconnection takes place at a large substation at Buttonwillow. PG&E's and WAPA's Path 15 and Path 66, respectively, from Buttonwillow north eventually connect to BPA's grid in the Pacific Northwest. There are several other interconnections with local and out-of-state utilities, such as Path 46.
In addition, SCE operates a regulated gas and water utility. SCE is the sole commercial provider of natural gas and fresh water service to Santa Catalina Island, including the city of Avalon, California. SCE operates the utilities under the names of Catalina Island Gas Company and Catalina Island Water Company.