PGE

Both Southern California Edison and TURN, a consumer advocacy group, are lobbying the California Public Utilities Commission in the hope of pressing home their respective arguments about how much money generated from telecoms services, such as dark fiber leasing, privately owned electric companies can keep. The narrow issue that’s on the table is a master fiber lease agreement between SCE and Verizon that needs to be approved by the CPUC, but it could have far reaching effects on how, or even if, electric companies pursue telecoms opportunities and ultimately on the availability of independent long haul dark fiber in California.… More

No decision so far from the California Public Utilities Commission regarding changing the rules of the game for privately owned electric companies when they engage in dark fiber leasing and other telecoms business activities. The commission was scheduled to vote Thursday on a draft decision that, as currently written, would require Southern California Edison to give 75% of the gross revenue it gets from leasing out dark fiber to its electric customers. Up until now, it’s only had to hand over 10% of gross telecoms revenue to ratepayers.… More

Dark fiber owned by private electric utilities in California could be more strictly regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. A proposed decision, due for a vote by commissioners at next week’s meeting, would rewrite the rules that have governed Southern California Edison’s dark fiber business for the past twenty years. It only applies to one particular transaction for now, but it has serious implications for Pacific Gas and Electric’s telecoms ambitions in northern California, and for communities and competitive broadband providers that need an independent source of dark fiber, particularly for long haul, inter-city connections.… More

In an apparent attempt to dial down the heat on regulatory review of its dark fiber leasing deal with Verizon, Southern California Edison wants to remove any reference to electronics from the paperwork it filed with the California Public Utilities Commission.

SCE has been in the dark fiber business for a couple of decades, and is certified by the CPUC as a competitive telephone company – it holds a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) that allows it to lease dark fiber and sell other telecommunications services, including lit data transport, on its 5,000 mile fiber network.… More

Electric companies are often also in the telecommunications business. In California, the two biggest electric investor owned utilities – PG&E, in northern California, and Southern California Edison – both have extensive dark fiber networks that they lease out to telecoms companies. SCE became a certified telephone company and began actively marketing dark fiber nearly twenty years ago, while PG&E has moved more slowly. But their business models are converging and the California Public Utilities Commission is taking a harder look at how they might be regulated.… More