Fact Sheet on Proposed Decision in Southern California Edison's Rate Case

On July 28, 2025, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a Proposed Decision in Southern California Edison’s (SCE) General Rate Case (GRC). The Proposed Decision authorizes the total amount of money SCE is authorized to collect from its customers through rates (called a revenue requirement) for 2025 through 2028.

Fast Facts

• Customer Savings: The Proposed Decision reduces SCE’s request by $727 million, prioritizing affordability while ensuring safety and reliability.
• Wildfire Safety: The Proposed Decision supports major investments in wildfire risk reduction, including undergrounding power lines in high-risk areas.
• Aging Infrastructure: Funding supports upgrades to aging equipment to improve long-term reliability and safety.
• Future-Ready Grid: Investments will help meet increased demand and support California’s clean energy transition.
• Community Input: The Proposed Decision reflects input gathered over two years from ratepayer advocates, environmental groups, customers, and others.

Summary

• The Proposed Decision adopts a 2025 revenue requirement of $9.756 billion ($727 million lower than the $10.483 billion that SCE had requested).
• The adopted revenue requirement of $9.756 billion represents an increase of $1.174 billion, or 13.68%, over the 2024 authorized revenue requirement of $8.582 billion.
• Table 1 below provides an estimate of what the impact on rates from this increase in the revenue requirement will be. 
  • It assumes a residential average monthly bill and usage of 500 kWh/month. 
  • CARE is the California Alternate Rates for Energy program, which offers a 30-35% discount on electric bills and a 20% discount on natural gas bills for qualifying customers.

Table 1: Bill Impact Estimates

Due to the Proposed Decision being voted on after Jan. 1, 2025, SCE will need to make up the difference between the amount it has been collecting since January 2025 and the increase the Proposed Decision approves for it to collect in 2025. This difference will be recovered from customers over a 24-month period, beginning as early as Oct. 1, 2025. While SCE provided an estimated bill impact in its original application in 2023, it did not account for this 2025 revenue requirement difference in its calculation.

Overview of Proposed Decision

• The Proposed Decision approves total revenues of $41.58 billion for 2025 through 2028; $4.59 billion lower (10% less) than the $46.17 billion SCE requested for this timeframe.
• The Proposed Decision authorizes SCE to increase its revenue requirement in 2026, 2027, and 2028 based on the most recent consumer price index (CPI) change, with a maximum increase of 5%. 
  • This allows SCE an opportunity to offset inflationary price increases, while protecting ratepayers from increases that could outpace the CPI as well as high inflation.

Table 2 shows total revenues for operations and capital.

Table 2: SCE GRC 2025-2028 Annual Revenues (Proposed Decision-Approved vs. SCE Requested)

This approved funding includes significant investments in wildfire risk reduction, including undergrounding, investments in the safety and reliability of aging infrastructure, and upgrades for increased load growth.

Safety, Reliability, and Building a Grid to Support Decarbonized Economic Growth

The Proposed Decision authorizes funding so that SCE can maintain safety and reliability and meet the growing demands on SCE’s electric system for economic growth and decarbonization of California’s economy. Specifically: 

• Wildfire Management and Grid Hardening: The Proposed Decision authorizes wildfire management grid hardening investments through targeted undergrounding and covered conductor programs. 
  • SCE requested a four-year budget of $4.232 billion to underground 580 miles of overhead lines and install 1,250 miles of covered conductor. The Proposed Decision authorizes a four-year budget of $2.213 billion for these two mitigations – $941 million for 177 miles of targeted undergrounding and $1,272 million for 1,653 miles of covered conductor. 
  • In addition to grid hardening, the Proposed Decision also authorizes more than 98% of SCE’s requested funding for other activities to manage wildfire risk, including inspections and remediations, aerial suppression, and enhanced situational awareness such as weather stations to track wind speeds and monitor the effects of adverse weather conditions on SCE’s electrical assets. 
• Vegetation Management: The Proposed Decision authorizes a budget of $607.230 million to conduct vegetation management activities, which focus on reducing ignition risks when vegetation is near electrical facilities. 
  • Notably, the Proposed Decision supports SCE’s request to transition to full remote sensing for routine inspections, a change with significant potential long-term safety, efficiency. and cost-saving benefits. However, the Proposed Decision directs SCE to incorporate remote sensing into its inspection program in a carefully phased manner and with reporting on the accuracy of its remote sensing inspections. 
• Load Growth and Grid Modernization: The Proposed Decision authorizes infrastructure projects that support the build-out of the grid for electricity demand growth. 
  • Notably, the Proposed Decision adopts funding for infrastructure upgrades identified by SCE’s Transportation Electrification Grid Readiness growth forecast, which supports the state’s electrification and decarbonization goals and targets, especially to support economic growth and housing. 
  • Additionally, the Proposed Decision adopts investments in grid modernization systems, software, and cybersecurity; pilots projects in grid technology and energy storage; and supports base-level planning costs for upgrades to SCE’s advanced metering infrastructure.

Background

• On May 12, 2023, SCE filed its application seeking CPUC authorization to increase its authorized revenues for electric service and to reflect this increase in rates. SCE subsequently updated its requests in April 2024 and June 2024. 
• The CPUC held four Public Forums for SCE customers remotely on March 5, 2024 and March 20, 2024; and held two in-person Public Forums for customers on April 10, 2024.
• Fourteen days of Evidentiary Hearings were conducted from May 6, 2024 to May 23, 2024. Twenty intervenors participated in the proceeding by submitting exhibits, cross-examining hearing witnesses, and filing motions and briefs.

Next Steps

• Comments by parties on the Proposed Decision are due by Aug. 18, 2025, with reply comments due by August 25, 2025. 
• Customers can comment on the Docket Card for this proceeding.
• Oral Arguments are scheduled for Aug. 11, 2025.  
• The Proposed Decision is currently scheduled to be on the Aug. 28, 2025 CPUC Voting Meeting agenda.