Southern California Edison customers in Los Angeles County soon will have a new way to get their electricity under a plan approved Tuesday by the County Board of Supervisors to lower bills and increase clean energy use.
The board, which voted 5-0 in favor of the public energy program, says the plan will help reduce customer power bills by as much as 5 percent below Edison’s costs. Residents and business operators will have the choice to stay with Edison or join the new government-run utility.
Initially, as many as 500,000 residential and 200,000 commercial utility customers in unincorporated cities throughout the county will be eligible to join the county-run operation. Incorporated cities such as Long Beach and Torrance require approval by elected officials.
The decision does not affect existing municipal utilities such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Pasadena Water and Power or Burbank Water and Power.