Edison CEO Warns Wildfire Impasse Risks Higher Customer Bills

Southern California Edison customers face hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs if the utility’s credit rating is downgraded to junk after California failed to pass wildfire legislation, according to the head of the utility’s parent company.

Among the pieces of wildfire reform on Edison’s wish list is a permanent shareholder liability cap, Edison International Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg News in New York. Under current law, that cap is set at 20% of a utility’s equity rate base, or $4.3 billion in Edison’s case, if the company’s equipment sparks a blaze and it’s found to have acted imprudently. But that cap disappears if the state’s wildfire fund runs dry.

Related: PG&E to Defer $2 Billion of Work After California Shelved Fire Bill

Whether that happens may hinge on a special legislative session. Pizarro said Edison continues to engage with lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, and that a special session before the end of the year remains “a possibility.”

The question of how costs are spread for utility-started wildfires has taken on new urgency since last year’s deadly Eaton blaze, which investigators have tied to Edison equipment. Along with Newsom, Edison and California’s other investor-owned utilities had pushed for legislation that would have set limits on fire claims.

Newsom’s effort was blocked, and a wildfire measure filed without his backing ended the legislative session without a vote. Shares of PG&E Corp. and Edison plunged as the plan collapsed. Fitch Ratings cut its outlook on Edison International and its Southern California utility to negative from stable, citing the stalled reform push.

Related: California Lawmakers Adjourn Without Voting on Wildfire Bill

Unlike PG&E, which announced that it would be deferring $2 billion of capital spending after the legislative impasse, Pizarro said Edison isn’t considering a similar capital spending pullback. The company’s utility is operating under an approved general rate case that runs through 2028, with no additional equity needs projected through 2030.

Top photo: An aerial view of SoCal Edison transmission towers standing in an area which burned during the Eaton Fire on September 1, 2026 near Altadena, California. Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images. Bloomberg.