California Public Utilities Commission Votes To Underground Chino Hills Electricity Line

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 3-2 on Thursday in San Francisco to underground the lines in Chino Hills, California.

 

The Center opposes this decision.

The cost estimate of undergrounding in Chino Hills is approximately $224 million, including offset for Chino Hills’ financial contribution of real property, which is valued at approximately $17 million. The Southern California Edison estimate of the cost is $533 million.  Completion of the portion of the Tehachapi overhead line in Chino Hills, as originally approved by the commission in 2009, would have cost $4 million.

The Southern California Edison transmission lines, built on land owned by the utility company since the 1940s, bring wind-generated electricity to consumers. Thursday's vote to move 3.5 miles of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project underground, combined with the closure of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, puts Southern California electricity reliabily at significant risk.

Commissioners Michael R. Peevey, Mark J. Ferron and Catherine J.K. Sandoval voted in favor of putting the lines underground. Commissioners Michel Florio and Carla Peterman opposed the plan.

(NBC Southern California, 7/12/2013, CPUC Press Release, CPUC Decision)