Elected officials in the fast-growing bedroom community of Corona, CA, voted unanimously late Monday night to pursue a takeover of Southern California Edison Co.’s distribution in its city of 138,000 residents, located 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles in neighboring Riverside County.

Following a special six-hour public hearing, the five-member city council decided in separate 5-0 votes that an environmental analysis was unnecessary and pursuing Edison’s utility distribution system was needed.

The latter action by the city council authorized Corona’s attorneys to file in a state Superior Court in Riverside County Tuesday to initiate eminent domain proceedings, first to determine the city’s right to take the utility property, and second, to establish a court-approved fair market value for the facilities. Even after that court process is completed, the city council still must decide if the assigned value of the property would make the takeover economically viable for the city, said Beth Groves, Corona city manager.

Rapid court action by the city does not preclude settlement discussions between the city and Edison, said Groves, noting the talks would likely take place between respective legal counsel for the two sides.

In an overflow hearing room with several hundred people watching on closed-circuit TV monitors in adjacent space, about 50 people spoke, the majority opposing the city using its eminent domain powers to acquire the Edison assets, according to an Edison official, Charlie Wilson. He took part in the hearing that allowed the utility to make a 45-minute presentation rebutting the city’s consulting reports supporting a municipalization move.

In what Edison argued is a “well orchestrated” effort done mostly in private — not public — sessions, Corona has spent $900,000 for consulting fees over the past 20 months to put its takeover strategy in place. After the public testimony — some of which was supportive of the city’s move — the city council, including two members whose last day on the job was Monday, voted as expected to declare no environmental impact report is required for the municipal takeover of Edison’s system, and a third-party economic analysis shows a potential 15% savings to the city’s residents and businesses, despite Edison’s detailed arguments against both moves.

“Clearly this issue has not had public participation and public scrutiny,” Wilson said. “And the city has spent a great deal of time and money preparing for the action it has now taken. It appears they would now rather argue these issues in court, rather than present the facts to their own citizens.

“They have been spending a great deal of time, energy and effort, it appears, behind closed doors,” said Wilson, adding that the city only gave the utility 30 days to review its municipalization report that was released Oct. 31, 2002.

Edison is still weighing its options in response to both federal and local actions — both from a public affairs and legal standpoint, Wilson said, acknowledging that a lot will depend on what the city ultimately does. It may appeal to regulators and/or the local elected officials.

Separately, FERC in a Nov. 25 decision upheld the city’s request to have Edison complete a new interconnection with Corona’s largest business, a cheese processor, noting the city has met the standards for an interconnection order. The city noted that it is not trying to mandate transmission service from Edison, but instead obtain the missing interconnection now that the city has a wholesale power supply and a scheduling coordinator for that supply (see Power Market Today, Dec. 3).

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