The LA Times and the Press Telegram report on Southern California Edison’s (SCE) appeal of a Judge’s order that SCE pay $200 million in fines and lost bonuses as punishment for a seven-year fraud.
According to the PT: Monday’s decision by Administrative Law Judge Robert Barnett of the California Public Utilities Commission stemmed from the discovery in 2004 of widespread falsification of customer satisfaction data, manipulation of safety incident reports and other problems with data used by Edison to win customer-funded performance incentives.
SCE disagrees.
According to the PT: The findings by Barnett “are not supported by the evidence of wrongdoing the utility uncovered and self-reported to regulators nor consistent with the fair application of regulatory penalties,” Edison said in a statement.
Coincidentally, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster was president of Southern California Edison from 2002 to 2005 and according to the PT he would not comment specifically on the ruling.
According to the PT: “When you get a problem like this, anything you gained you’re not going to be able to keep, and probably shouldn’t,” Foster said. The bonus payments went to the company, not individual employees, so Foster won’t have to return any money, he said. “There was no personal compensation involved in that,” Foster said. He also defended Edison’s handling of the situation after the company received anonymous tips about the fraud. Edison investigated it and contacted the Public Utilities Commission. “It was completely self-reported and presented to the commission,” Foster said.
Read the stories in the Press Telegram and the LA Times.