Risks lower as California braces for fire season, says Edison International CEO

摘要

Following record wildfires in 2020, much of California is a tinderbox after another dry winter, and peak 2021 fire season looms. But Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, is optimistic that affiliate Southern California Edison Co., or SCE, and other utilities are making progress toward limiting the role of power lines in igniting the kind of disastrous blazes that hit California in 2017 and 2018 and prompted credit ratings agencies to strip them of their investment-grade status. Pizarro cited a trio of factors: expanded state budget outlays for firefighting; implementation of a state law that created a $21 billion statewide wildfire insurance fund; and SCE's rollout of a comprehensive wildfire safety strategy, including public safety power shutoffs in extreme situations.