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SoCal Edison Proposes $582M Grid Upgrades To Mitigate Wildfire Risk

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Utility giant Southern California Edison has proposed spending a whopping $582 million to improve its electric grid in an effort to reduce wildfire risk from its power lines, a move which could hike ratepayer bills.

SoCal Edison is asking the state for permission to spend $582 million on improvements, including strengthening poles and using better technology to determine when winds put the power grid at risk, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Over the next two years, an estimated 600 miles of exposed power lines would be replaced with insulated ones that would not spark if they came in contact with a fallen branch or a Mylar balloon.

Ratepayers would see their bills increase between 81 cents and $1.20 a month, but far less than if SoCal Edison is found liable for a wildfire similar to the Northern California firestorm which hit in October 2017, Edison officials told the Times.

Pacific Gas & Electric, faces up to $15 billion in losses from those fires, which destroyed more than 8,000 homes and killed more than 40 people. Residents have blamed downed power lines for the fires, though officials have not completed their investigation of the causes.

SoCal Edison, meanwhile, could face up to $4 billion in losses from the Thomas Fire, which hit Ventura and Santa Barbara counties last December, and set the stage for the Montecito mudslide that occurred a month later. Several lawsuits have been filed against SoCal Edison over allegations that its aging equipment caused or contributed to the Thomas Fire. The cause of which has not yet been determined and remains under investigation.

The Thomas Fire, the second largest in state history, scorched 281,000 acres and destroyed more than 750 homes. It also set the stage for deadly mudslides on Jan. 9 in the Santa Barbara County enclave of Montecito, when a storm triggered flash floods on hillsides ravaged by the Thomas Fire, killing at least 21 people, destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes, and shutting down the 101 Freeway for weeks.

SoCal Edison's actions underscore power companies' growing concerns over their fire liability, the Times reported.

Many of California's most destructive fires have been fueled by powerful winds, which in some cases have caused power lines to snap off and spark blazes. Utility companies are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, and officials have warned that the losses will grow if the agencies can't find ways to reduce the risks.

PG&E's potential losses from the October blazes were so vast that the utility said it faced possible bankruptcy if it did not get some relief from the state. Those concerns prompted the state Legislature last month to approve a controversial bill that would allow PG&E to borrow money for its 2017 wildfire costs while using funds collected from ratepayers to pay back the loan.

Insurance claims from this year's two largest California wildfires -- the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires -- has topped $845 million.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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