Southern California Edison, Tired of Waiting, Seeks New Wire With First Section 216 Request

To be on the wire is life, the rest is waiting goes the quote from the movie, All that Jazz. Now it seems that Southern California Edison (SCE) has taken that quote at face value. Growing tired of waiting for Arizona regulators to reconsider their original rejection of SCE’s proposed transmission line from Arizona to California, SCE went to the wire for its “wires” by asking FERC to exercise its new authority under Section 216 of the FPA to permit the proposed line. Source: Reuters, Los Angeles Times (5/17/08). SCE’s FERC filing follows an earlier 2008 consultation with FERC officials about the possible applicability of Section 216.

SCE says by moving ahead at FERC, it seeks to keep its options open abd will continue to work with state regulators and stakeholders to obtain approval of the transmission line by the state. To be sure, life on the wire in a first impression Section 216 proceeding at FERC may be more exciting than waiting. But I’m guessing that SCE will feel much safer if it can convince Arizona regulators to grant a state siting permit.