Wildfire liability reform is key to the financial health of Southern California Edison, ideally in the form of a long-term solution that “includes a clear and durable liquidity source for funding claims resolution, and a true shareholder liability cap that is not connected to the Wildfire Fund,” said Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Southern California Edison’s parent company Edison International, on a Thursday earnings call.
Pizarro voiced many of the same concerns — such as credit rating stability and potential impacts to customers — expressed by his fellow California utility CEO, PG&E Corp.’s Patti Poppe, during PG&E’s earnings call last week.
“We estimate that the currently elevated credit spreads could cost customers an incremental $300 million over the life of the bonds we expect SCE will issue in 2027 alone,” Edison International’s Chief Financial Officer Aaron Moss said during the call.
In September, the California Legislature opted not to advance Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to amend a wildfire reform bill to limit the liability of utilities. The news that lawmakers rejected Newsom’s proposal caused Edison International’s stock to drop by 23%. The session ended without a final vote on the legislation, but Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said work on the issue would continue.
Pizarro said that while Edison International is focused on items like the shareholder liability cap, “we recognize that other pieces may be needed to develop a package that gains support from stakeholders and ultimately the Senate, the Assembly, and the governor in time to send a bill to the governor by the constitutional deadline of November 15.”
“If we do not succeed in 2026, we must continue the effort with the new governor and legislature in 2027,” he added. “While we remain confident that California policymakers will ultimately take action, given the dire and escalating impacts on customers and the economy, delay into 2027 will have significant and costly consequences.”
SCE and Edison International are named in around 2,000 lawsuits from 38,000 plaintiffs concerning damages from the 2025 Eaton Fire, according to Edison International’s third quarter U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Those plaintiffs include individual plaintiffs as well as lawsuits by subrogation and public entity plaintiffs.
“As of September 30, 2026, SCE had recorded $1.8 billion in losses” related to Eaton Fire settlements, said the filing. “SCE had also recorded expected recoveries from customer-funded self-insurance of $917 million, from the Wildfire Fund of $859 million, and through FERC electric rates of $70 million related to the settlements.”
Despite wildfire headwinds, Edison International had a “strong” year-to-date performance and has a strong outlook for the remainder of the year, said Moss.
On paper, the company’s third-quarter core earnings declined year-over-year from $901 million to $738 million, but 2025’s third-quarter core earnings “reflect a 55-cent true-up resulting from the receipt of SCE's general rate case final decision,” Moss said. “Looking through that item, the quarter reflected continued stability in our core operations.”
When examined year to date, Edison International’s core earnings for 2026 are $1.88 billion compared to 2025’s $1.8 billion.
According to the company’s presentation slides, “SCE forecasts investing $38–41 billion from 2026 to 2030 to support SCE’s wildfire mitigation strategy and clean energy transformation in California.”
Edison International’s 2026–2030 capital plan devotes 22% each to load growth/electrification and infrastructure replacement, 14% to maintenance and inspections, and 12% to wildfire management.
In response to an analyst question about the potential for Edison International to reduce its investment if durable wildfire reform is not realized, Moss said the company would “prioritize spending in safety, reliability, and compliance-related areas. And that just means, by definition, we'd have less for load growth and clean energy policy.”
