Edison awaits PUC’S response on funding

ENERGY

State utility regulators have delayed responding to a funding request from Southern California Edison for more than $400 million to pay for next year’s costs related to tearing down the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant.

The Rosemead-based power monopoly, the majority owner of the failed plant on the northern San Diego County coast, asked the California Public Utilities Commission to approve spending $461 million from the decommissioning fund by Jan. 3 for costs that three years ago were estimated at $166 million. Edison cited delays in the fuel-transfer program moving the waste from wet to dry storage and approval of a permit from the state Coastal Commission for the updated cost estimates.

Regulators decided to examine the transaction in more detail before allowing the spending. In a one-page notice sent to Edison on Dec. 24, regulators told the utility they would not issue immediate approval. Instead, they said they need up to 120 days to consider the request to withdraw money from the multibillion-dollar decommissioning fund.

The decision to hold back regulatory approval for the new spending came on the same day the San Diego consumer group Public Watchdogs formally protested Edison’s application. Charles Langley, the group’s executive director, told the utilities commission that the Edison request was too much money to approve without an evidentiary hearing. He said Edison mischaracterized several key points in its nine-page application, known as an advice letter.

The decommissioning fund is a multibillion-dollar pot of money paid into by utility customers over several decades. Edison and minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric suspended the charges several years ago after determining they had enough money to dismantle the plant.

Robert Laffoon-villegas, a spokesman for Edison, released a statement saying, “Southern California Edison will submit its response to the CPUC on Dec. 31. We look forward to providing additional information to the commission on this matter. The protest by Public Watchdogs is without merit. SCE’S advice letter is consistent with the approved process for obtaining the CPUC’S approval of trust fund disbursements to pay for decommissioning costs.”