Southern California Edison will credit $3.1 million to residential customers it billed for service deposits on or after April 1, 2020, under a $7.7 million settlement the California Public Utilities Commission approved Oct. 29. Customers who paid a deposit are due $100 each, and those who were billed but never paid are due $25, according to the consent order filed in the case. Edison’s shareholders, not ratepayers, cover the full amount.
For anyone with an Edison account, the practical question is whether their own bills carried a deposit line after April 2020. The order covers residential customers only, and it counts a customer as covered if SCE billed the deposit, whether or not the money was ever paid. A look back through old statements, or a call to Edison’s customer service line, is how a household finds out which group it falls in…