The online article’s headline — ‘Secret changes Edison imposed after Eaton fire remain shrouded in mystery’ — paints an incorrect and irresponsibly dramatic picture of what is a common practice between utilities and their regulators.
This article focused on a document called “Transmission Operations and Maintenance Policies and Procedures,” which guides our workers as we operate and maintain our electrical transmission equipment. We recognize the California Public Utilities Commission’s ability to request information about our operational procedures and when they do, we cooperate with them, as they are entitled to see these records as part of their oversight responsibilities. In this case, in our letter to the CPUC we were being transparent about a planned update to our operational procedures that was neither “mysterious” nor secretive.
While we recognize our regulators’ ability to review these internal operational procedures, there’s a broader risk of widely sharing our internal standards publicly. This level of detail could pose a security concern.
Here are the facts:
- Continuous Improvement is a core value at SCE, and we look for ways to adjust and improve our practices and procedures, including our transmission maintenance.
- As part of that process, we reviewed that document and realized the language was not as clear as it could be for grounding idle lattice steel structures, so we made clarifications.
The Los Angeles Times continues to try to draw conclusions while the investigation is ongoing and will take time. We are committed to transparency throughout the investigation process and will continue to respect the integrity of the ongoing official investigation.
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