Oct. 1, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety (Energy Safety) today issued its Annual Performance Report (formerly Annual Report on Compliance) for Southern California Edison’s (SCE) 2024 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP).
This report is a comprehensive look at the implementation of SCE’s 2024 WMP targets and its catastrophic wildfire risk reduction initiatives. Energy Safety’s assessment found that SCE completed 41 of 47 (87%) of its 2024 targets for initiative activities.
Energy Safety identified several areas for performance improvement:
- Four of the six missed SCE 2024 WMP initiative targets were also missed in implementation year 2023: Covered Conductor, Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters Ground Fault Neutralizer, Inspection and Maintenance Tools, and Open Work Orders. SCE’s continued failure to meet the targets for these initiatives suggests a lack of capacity and urgency to make necessary corrections.
- SCE had numerous issues with data reporting accuracy and completeness for initiative attainment reporting, as well as quality assurance and quality control shortcomings. Accurate and timely data is essential for monitoring and improving performance.
- SCE could improve its estimates of proposed spending and the management of its WMP expenditures.
Given the identification of SCE’s transmission equipment very early on in public reporting as a potential source of the Eaton Fire ignition, Energy Safety directed SCE (and other utilities) to provide information about de-energized lines in its next Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
While SCE met a majority of its WMP targets, the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) determined that SCE’s equipment created and ignition that caused the catastrophic Eaton Fire in January 2025, the month following the 2024 performance period.
In SCE’s 2026-2028 WMP decision, Energy Safety outlined new reporting requirements for electrical corporations and “De-energized Transmission Line Assessment and Removal.” Energy Safety’s review of a selection of the records of transmission inspections revealed several different performance issues related to the quality of asset inspections. These included misclassifying aerial surveys as ground surveys, not having clear follow-up procedures to determine the condition of assets that could not be effectively inspected, and overgrown vegetation concealing the condition of the bottom of assets.
Going forward, SCE must show, through consistent action, that it will honor its WMP commitments and thus meaningfully reduce wildfire risk in the manner committed to its customers and the people of California through its WMP. Energy Safety will scrutinize SCE’s future WMP performance and continue to report on any failures by SCE to achieve its own objectives to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire in California.