Business
State officials approve Edison rate hike for 2017 wildfire sparked by its equipment
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to allow Southern California Edison to raise electric rates to cover payments it made to victims of the devastating 2017 Thomas wildfire.
Investigators found that the utility’s equipment sparked the blaze, one of the largest in California history. The fire’s devastation also helped spur the catastrophic debris flows in Montecito, which killed 23.
With no discussion, the commission approved the rate hike by a 4-0 vote. The vote means that more than $1.6 billion of the $2.7 billion that Edison paid to more than 5,000 victims of the fire will be covered by its customers. The rest will be paid by shareholders of the for-profit company.
After the vote, seven Democratic state legislators sent a letter to the commission, saying the action harmed customers and failed to hold Edison accountable.
“Those in regions prone to wildfires have already suffered the consequences of utility failure by being forced to endure power outages, property destruction, and displacement,” wrote the legislators, who include Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). “It is reprehensible to require these same consumers to assume the financial responsibility for corporate mismanagement and infrastructure deficiencies.”
Edison said it planned to minimize the impact on customers by spreading the cost over 30 years. Most customers would see an increase to their monthly bill of about $1, the company said.
The commissioners approved the rate hike despite dozens of written comments from the public saying it wasn’t fair to make customers pay for costs of a wildfire that state and local government investigators had determined was started by the utility’s equipment.
“Relieving Edison of its duties to provide safe and reliable services by forcing its customers to foot the bill for their outright negligence is unconscionable,” wrote Emma Mailey, a resident of Los Angeles. She added that such an action “will teach them nothing and lead to more inaction on Edison’s part.”
Edison disputed investigators’ claims that its actions negligently caused the fire, saying in a press release last year that it had “prudently operated its system, managing it at or above what is required by regulators.”
“Climate change is driving catastrophic wildfires,” Pedro Pizarro, president of Edison International, said in the release, “and SCE will continue its work to mitigate the effects.”
The company has also asked the commission to approve a second rate increase for $5.4 billion in payments of victims of the devastating 2018 Woolsey fire, which the commission will consider at a later date. Investigators found Edison’s equipment also sparked that fire.
Combined, the two proposals would increase rates by more than 2%.
California’s electric rates are the second-highest in the nation. Edison’s rates have increased 48% in the last three years, according to a December report by the utility commission’s public advocates office.
After the vote, Alice Reynolds, the commission’s president, said that if she and the other members hadn’t approved the settlement agreement it could have led to litigation “with an unknown result.”
Reynolds and the other commission members were appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
She said the commission was operating under a legal standard in a 2019 law that said if a wildfire was sparked by a utility’s equipment but the company was found to act “prudently” the costs would be covered by customers.
The 2019 law, known as AB 1054, created a wildfire insurance fund. The Thomas and Woolsey fires don’t qualify for money from the fund because they happened before the law passed.
Edison’s equipment is now under scrutiny in the wake of the Eaton firestorm in Altadena, which killed at least 17 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
Lawyers representing victims point to cellphone videos taken by eyewitnesses that show the first flames below the company’s transmission tower in Eaton Canyon.
Edison said it is conducting its own investigation while cooperating with government fire investigators probing the cause of the inferno.
The 2017 Thomas fire swept through almost 282,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, destroying more than 1,000 structures and causing two deaths.
Investigators said Edison’s equipment was the cause of two separate ignitions on Dec. 4, 2017, near Santa Paula. The two fires eventually merged together.
Cal Fire and Ventura County fire investigators said one ignition was caused by an electric wire falling and igniting dry brush. The other ignition happened, the investigators said, when two wires slapped together, releasing molten metal into the vegetation.
The commission’s safety and enforcement division later said the company had violated five rules and regulations, including failure to cooperate with investigators.
In January 2018, while the fire was still burning, heavy rainfall led to debris flows in Montecito. Officials said the mud and boulders were dislodged in part because of the fire’s impact on vegetation and soil.
Edison has argued that its equipment wasn’t responsible for one of the two ignitions. And it says it disagrees with findings of the commission’s safety and enforcement division that it had violated any rules or regulations, including the claim that it had failed to cooperate with investigators.
Terrie Prosper, a commission spokesperson, said that although the agency’s enforcement staff identified the violations, the commission approved a 2021 agreement with Edison that found no violations related to the Thomas fire. As part of that agreement, Edison agreed to $550 million in financial penalties for multiple wildfires, including the Thomas fire.
Edison said it blames the damage and deaths caused by the Montecito debris flows on “inadequate governmental flood control infrastructure and deficient evacuation communications.”
The luxury shopping center in Pacific Palisades will reopen next month after more than $100 million in renovations forced by the January 2025 wildfire that devastated the Los Angeles neighborhood.
Palisades Village will reopen Aug. 15, owner Rick Caruso announced Wednesday. The outdoor center survived the blaze that destroyed homes and other businesses but needed refurbishment to eliminate contaminants that the fire could have spread.
Crews are putting finishing touches on mall buildings after tearing them down to the studs, treating the wood and rebuilding the walls, Caruso said.
“Everybody’s working, and stores are moving their products in,” he said. “It’s a really cool feeling that people have really locked arms and are working together.”
An electrician installs lighting for a restaurant at Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village on Thursday. The shopping center is scheduled to reopen mid-August.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Pacific Palisades resident Allison Polhill, who is rebuilding the home of 30 years that her family lost in the blaze, said she is “thrilled” at the prospect of returning to the mall she used to frequent. Its comeback is a boost for the community, she said.
“Every single step that we make to reopen our commercial corridors is going to bring more people back into the Palisades,” said Polhill, who expects to move back into her home at the end of August.
A total of 6,822 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, including more than 5,500 residences and 100 commercial businesses, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Caruso previously attributed the mall’s survival to the hard work of private firefighters and the fire-resistant materials used in the mall’s construction.
The $200-million shopping and dining center opened in 2018 with a movie theater and a roster of upmarket tenants, including Erewhon, which may be the only grocer in the heart of the fire-ravaged neighborhood when it opens.
Caruso’s company was able to fill the mall with tenants despite the long shutdown.
Palisades Village is 99% leased, with the majority of tenants returning, said Jackie Levy, chief financial and revenue officer. Nearly one-third of the shops and restaurants are new to the property.
A firefighter carries a hose back to his rig while walking through a destroyed home from the Palisades fire in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, 2025.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Last year, Pacific Palisades-based fashion designer Elyse Walker said she would reopen her eponymous store in Palisades Village after losing her 25-year flagship location on Antioch Street to the inferno.
Other neighborhood shops destroyed in the fire that are reopening at the mall include K Bakery and Loomey’s Toys, which caters to children up to age 12 and used to be across the street from Palisades Elementary Charter School.
“It’s been a journey and I’m excited because I wasn’t sure that there was going to be a place to come back to,” said toy store owner Amanda Rastegar. “Hopefully we can bring some of that magic back.”
Rastegar’s home in the Palisades survived but was damaged by the fire. The family returned about eight weeks ago. Her last memory of the fire was a burning supermarket.
“I just couldn’t wrap my brain around what was happening,” she said. “By the time I left, Gelson’s was on fire.”
Among the returning tenants is Angelini Ristorante & Bar. Well-known Los Angeles chef Gino Angelini said he will be in the kitchen next month for a return of the Italian restaurant.
“We won’t do a big celebrity open,” he said. “We want to have a very soft opening and see our customers come back.”
Construction takes place at Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village on Thursday. The shopping center is scheduled to reopen mid-August.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
An elaborate celebration would not feel “correct for me,” Angelini said, because the devastation has been “very sad” for so many.
Other new tenants include local chef Nancy Silverton, who has agreed to move in with a new Italian steakhouse called Spacca Tutto. Women’s activewear retailer LESET will open its first West Coast location.
Caruso said he is optimistic that customers will return to the center, even though many Pacific Palisades residents are still dispersed. One tracking system estimated that about 30% of the Village’s customer base was impacted by the fire, he said.
“That means 70% did not get impacted, so there’s a lot of customers still left out there,” Caruso said. Historically, the center drew customers from as far away as Beverly Hills and Calabasas, as well as Malibu, Brentwood and Santa Monica.
He also hopes many will be inspired to visit the revived mall.
“I believe in the goodness of people and I believe that people are going to want to support the Palisades,” he said. “They’re going to want to be there and support the businesses that have had the courage and the heart to reopen.”
Walmart is rapidly expanding its network of electric vehicle chargers designed for customers to use while they shop.
The network could help fill gaps in EV infrastructure in states with greater need for chargers. Walmart, which has more than 5,000 locations in the U.S. and hundreds in California, says more than 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of one of its stores.
The chargers also offer an incentive for customers to choose Walmart — Walmart Plus members will receive a 10% discount off an average price of $0.46 per kilowatt-hour of energy at the company’s chargers.
Walmart chargers are already available at more than 75 locations in 17 states, with Texas boasting the most charging stations, followed by Florida and Arizona.
Matthew Nelson, Walmart’s director of energy policy, said last week on LinkedIn that the network will soon reach 29 states, including California.
“We are delivering on the promise of affordable, reliable and convenient charging,” Nelson said in his post.
According to Walmart’s website, six charging stations are coming to California soon, though the company did not offer a specific timeline.
The chargers will be installed at stores in Antelope, Brea, Fresno, Stockton, Suisun City and Vallejo.
Most charging sites in California will include eight to 16 fast-charging stalls, said Walmart spokesperson Kelsey Bohl.
The company first announced plans in April 2023 to install its own EV chargers at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, with a goal of installing thousands of chargers by 2030. Partnering with ABB E-Mobility and Alpitronic, it added 25 new charging sites this past May and six more in June.
“Walmart is building a leading retail-integrated EV fast-charging network, focused on delivering an affordable, reliable and convenient charging experience where customers already shop,” Bohl said in an emailed statement. “Customers can charge while they shop, access stations through the Walmart app they already use, and benefit from affordable pricing.”
The charging stations already available include 612 individual charging stalls using 400-kilowatt chargers. Each stall has a dual charging cord with both Combined Charging System and North American Charging Standard connectors. The standard connectors, designed by Tesla, are smaller and lighter than the combined systems.
The primary way to pay for the chargers is through the Walmart app, but the company is also experimenting with built-in credit card readers to allow those without the app to use the stations.
Customers can check charger availability on the Walmart app. The company said the chargers will be available 24 hours a day.
Robotaxis could be turning into robocops.
A self-driving Waymo reported two teens to San Mateo, Calif., police on Monday after they were found drinking alcohol and shooting toy guns in the back of the vehicle.
According to a social media post from the San Mateo Police Department, officers detained two 15-year-olds after the Waymo they were riding in contacted the department and stopped in a parking lot until law enforcement arrived.
“Parents do you know where your teens are?” the San Mateo Police Department wrote on Facebook following the incident. “Waymo does!”
Officers removed both teens from the vehicle and determined they were using toy guns to shoot Orbeez out the windows. Orbeez are small, water-absorbing beads sold at toy stores.
“Toy guns, water guns, and BB guns all pose real dangers, especially to an untrained eye,” the Police Department said. “The simple handling of them can cause fear in [passersby].” “
A video posted on Facebook shows at least five officers and a police dog responding to the scene and approaching the Waymo with their weapons raised.
Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Waymo vehicles have internal cameras and microphones that may be used in an emergency or to “promote safety and security,” according to Waymo’s online support page.
The cameras are also used to ensure the vehicles are clean and to help find lost items, according to the support page.
The company said it does not use facial recognition or other biometric identification technologies to identify individuals.
“In more urgent circumstances, support may access live video during a trip,” the Waymo page said.
The San Mateo Police Department’s Facebook post has garnered nearly 60 comments, with one user accusing Waymo of “snitching.”
“At least they got a designated driver?!” one user commented.
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