Southern California Edison lays out plan to rebuild after LA wildfires

(Reuters) — Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of utility Edison International, said Friday it has submitted an initial plan to rebuild the areas within its service territory that were devastated by the Los Angeles wildfires in January.

The preliminary plan was submitted to California Governor Gavin Newsom and is estimated to cost between $860 million and $925 million, SCE said, adding that securing alternate funding sources was critical to making the plan a reality.

The wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area starting Jan. 7, leading to dozens of deaths and destroying thousands of structures. It is estimated to be the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.

Although no official cause for the fires has been released, several lawsuits have claimed that SCE power lines and towers in Altadena started one of the blazes — the Eaton Fire.

SCE has also been sued by Los Angeles County and the city of Pasadena.

The company said Friday the investigation was ongoing and it “remains committed to transparency with the public.”

It also said that its preliminary plan would primarily focus on undergrounding power lines in the Altadena and Malibu areas.