California Utility’s Request Denied by Courts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied Southern California Edison’s petition placed in December, asking the court to order the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to “fix by order just and reasonable cost-based rates…for sales in the markets operated by the California Independent System Operator and the California Power Exchange.”

The California Public Utilities Commission filed in support of Southern California Edison’s petition with FERC. In its motion, the California Public Utilities Commission noted, “California will suffer irreparable harm if the FERC orders at issue are not immediately reversed. It is critical that the court act promptly to require FERC to do its duty under law.”

The court has expressed the expectation that FERC will rule on Southern California Edison’s rehearing petition in a timely manner.

According to Southern California Edison, prices for electricity in California, in both the spot and forward markets, have remained high since the FERC's Dec. 15 order, demonstrating that the FERC's market remedies are ineffective.

For the month of December, all Southern California Edison revenues fell short of the costs of the power supplied to its customers by $24 million a day, for a December total of $750 million.

Southern California Edison wants FERC to enforce the law requiring remedial action on rates the FERC has found to be unjust and unreasonable. Southern California Edison argues that the FERC has a legal obligation to impose just and reasonable cost-based rates in the California wholesale market and wants the FERC do so quickly.