SCE

SCE’s dark fiber future gets darker

24 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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Southern California Edison’s bid to get blanket approval of its dark fiber deal with Verizon from the California Public Utilities Commission continues to sink deeper into a quagmire. The CPUC commissioner in charge of the review wants to change the way SCE splits dark fiber revenue with its customers. The formula in effect for almost 20 years gives 10% of gross revenue back to ratepayers, but commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen thinks 50% is a better deal.… More

California electric company fiber leasing gets a reprieve

11 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission won’t kill electric companies’ independent fiber enterprises just yet. The dispute over how to share the money that Southern California Edison earns from leasing out surplus fiber with its electric customers was bumped to next month. The changes in the latest version proposed by commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen – including making it a 50/50 split of gross revenue instead of the 10% that goes to ratepayers under current rules – were significant enough to trigger a 30 day review period.… More

SCE says fiber deal with Verizon is dead, and the CPUC killed it

9 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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Southern California Edison and CPUC commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen exchanged shots on Thursday, as the battle over electric company fiber continues. Rechtschaffen released a new version – an “alternate” – of a draft decision that required SCE to give up 75% of the gross revenue it would have received from a fiber master lease agreement (MLA) it reached with Verizon. He cut that down to 50%, which is still significantly more than the 10% that the existing rules, which have been in effect for almost 20 years, require.… More

Utility wildfire liability will be settled behind closed doors in Sacramento

8 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The California legislature took care of one key item of business before it headed out on its month long summer break on Thursday. The senate and the assembly went through the necessary motions to create a conference committee that will decide how liability for California’s continuing epidemic of wildfires will be assigned. Changes to senate bill 901, carried by senator Bill Dodd (D – Napa), will be negotiated largely out of public view over the next few weeks, and then put to a straight up or down vote – no amendments or meaningful debate allowed under normal circumstances.… More

Quick changes to utility wildfire prevention, liability law expected in Sacramento today

5 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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As huge wildfires burn in California and elsewhere in the West, legislative leaders and governor Jerry Brown put changes to the way utility lines are managed on a fast track at the capitol. A bill to allow for shutting off power when fire danger is high and reworking the way electric utilities are held liable for fires and ratepayers are charged for prevention efforts was sent to a conference committee on Monday.

That’s a legislative maneuver that allows legislative leaders – democrats and republicans alike – to negotiate the details of a bill amongst themselves, and then put it to a straight up or down vote in both houses.… More

SCE proposes doing CPUC reviews the old, costly way to save its fiber business

15 June 2018 by Steve Blum
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Instead of shooting Southern California Edison’s fiber business in the head, the California Public Utilities Commission might have shot itself in the foot. Earlier this year, commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen drafted a plan to kill the business model that the CPUC approved for SCE’s dark fiber leasing enterprise nearly 20 years ago. It was in response to a request from SCE for approval of a high volume master fiber lease agreement it negotiated with Verizon.

In a recent closed door meeting with Rechtschaffen’s staff (plus an advisor to commissioner Lianne Randolph), SCE proposed scrapping the master lease and using the existing time and labor intensive – for SCE and the CPUC – method of reviewing each new agreement individually.… More

Wrangling over electric company fiber continues at CPUC

6 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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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

CPUC not ready to cripple dark fiber competition just yet

4 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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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

Competitive dark fiber gets a reprieve in California

8 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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A proposal to flip – and maybe kill – the business model for dark fiber enterprises run by private electric utilities is on hold at the California Public Utilities Commission. It was pulled off today’s CPUC agenda by commission president Michael Picker and tentatively rescheduled for March.

Last year, Southern California Edison asked for permission to do a master fiber lease deal with Verizon. It seemed to be routine. SCE has been negotiating dark fiber leases on terms established by the CPUC for nearly 20 years.… More

CPUC considers crippling electric utilities' competitive fiber business

31 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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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