Wondering where the money from your bill is going? Just under half of it pays for buying and generating electricity. The rest? Most of it pays for operating and maintaining a more reliable, resilient power grid. Below are some of the investments in essential upgrades that customers have helped make happen.
Resiliency:
- Installed over 6,000 miles of coated wire, known as covered conductor, along with 48 miles of undergrounding since 2018.
- Added over 1,000 weather stations and 200 HD wildfire cameras throughout SCE’s service area since 2018.
- Completed 1 million distribution inspections and 200,000 transmission inspections since 2018.
Reliability:
- Replaced more than 25,000 distribution poles and 563 miles of conductor in the past two years.
- Installed 45,000 new distribution transformers in the past two years.
Clean Energy and Electrification:
- Helped install about 10,000 space and water heat pumps in the last year.
- Responded to 700 requests for installing large electric vehicle charging stations since 2021.
These improvements help reduce outages, speed up repairs and protect communities from severe weather, fire and storm damage. They also support the growing use of EVs and cleaner energy technologies.
Work planned through 2028:
Resiliency:
- Underground over 200 miles of power lines in high fire risk areas.
- Install 1,600 miles of covered conductor.
Reliability:
- Upgrade more than 1,000 miles of aging overhead power lines.
- Replace 615 distribution transformers in areas impacted by severe weather.
- Upgrade 160 ground-level transformers, known as pad mounts, to refresh older equipment.
- Upgrade circuits and substations to handle increased demand.
Clean Energy and Electrification:
- Upgrade 10%-15% of subtransmission and distribution systems to support rising electricity use from EVs and stay prepared for peaks in customer demand.
To continue this important work, starting in October, customers will notice higher electricity bills as updated rates take effect. But even with the increase, the average rate across all customers is still lower than those from other investor-owned utilities in California, and bills are expected to stay at or below inflation through 2028.
For those who need bill assistance, SCE offers income-qualified programs, including California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) and Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA).
For more information on SCE’s programs and ways to save, visit sce.com/helpmanagecosts.
