MALIBU—Southern California Edison reached agreements to settle $360 million in claims asserted by 23 cities, counties and special districts impacted by the Thomas, Koenigstein, Montecito, and Woolsey wildfires on Wednesday, November 13. Admission of wrongdoing and liability was not reached in the settlement agreements by Southern California Edison and other public entities involved.
The settlement public entities include:
Woolsey Fire
- City of Malibu
- County of Los Angeles
- Los Angeles County Flood Control District
- Consolidated Fire Protection District of Los Angeles County
- County of Ventura
- Ventura County Watershed Protection District
- Ventura County Fire Protection District
- City of Agoura Hills
- City of Westlake Village
- City of Calabasas
- City of Hidden Hills
- Conejo Recreation & Park District
- Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency
- Rancho Simi Recreation & Park District
- City of Thousand Oaks
Thomas, Koenigstein, and Montecito Fires
- County of Santa Barbara
- Montecito Water District
- Santa Barbara County Fire Protection District
- Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District
- City of Buenaventura
- Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District
- Montecito Fire Protection District
- County of Ventura
- Ventura County Watershed Protection District
- Ventura County Fire Protection District
A total of $150 million will be allocated towards the 2017 Thomas and Koenigstein wildfires while the remaining $210 million will be allocated towards the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Disbursement of the settlements only apply to damages claimed by the public entities and do not impact the claims of individuals or businesses impacted by the fires and debris flows. Settlement disbursements do not impact the existing cross-claims that Southern California Edison and Edison International maintain against four of the public entities in connection with debris flow damage.
“We are pleased to reach agreements to resolve the claims brought by local government entities related to the 2017 and 2018 events,” said Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International. “We look forward to engaging with other parties who have a similar interest in good faith settlement efforts. We also will continue to make substantial investments in our system and enhance our operational practices to reduce the risk of wildfires in our service area and safely provide power to homes and businesses.”
Southern California Edison proposed spending $582 million on the Grid Safety and Resiliency Program consisting of additional measures to enhance wildfire safety.
A key element of the program includes reducing the risk of sparks that can ignite fires by replacing overhead power lines in high fire risk areas with insulated wire. SoCal Edison installed the first 300 miles of insulated wire with plans to replace 1,000 miles more by the end of 2020. It is the companies projection that between 2021 and 2023, 4,900 additional miles of insulated wire will be installed throughout California.
Southern California Edison has implemented 470 of 850 planned weather stations to monitor weather conditions in high fire risk areas and installed more than 130 of 160 planned high-definition cameras to quickly detect fire ignitions.
Southern California Edison stated that they will continue to work with stakeholders to resolve the issues related to the 2017 and 2018 events.
