Sunday, May 10, 2026

Edison Tops $500 Million in Eaton Fire Offers as Altadena Undergrounding Draws Pushback

The utility’s voluntary compensation program approaches a November deadline while residents challenge the cost and pace of burying power lines

Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire leveled more than 9,000 structures across Altadena, Southern California Edison says it has crossed a threshold: more than $500 million offered to fire survivors through its voluntary compensation program, with more than 68% of those offers accepted.

The figure, disclosed in a May 7 progress report on Edison’s corporate platform, marks six months since the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program began accepting claims for property loss, smoke damage, and other fire-related harm. The program operates as an alternative to litigation at a time when SCE faces lawsuits from Los Angeles County, the cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre, and the U.S. Department of Justice, all alleging the utility’s equipment contributed to the fire that killed at least 17 people on January 7, 2025. SCE has acknowledged the possibility that its infrastructure was involved; the cause remains under investigation.

The undergrounding project and the compensation program represent Edison’s two largest commitments in Altadena — one reshaping the community’s physical infrastructure, the other its financial recovery. But the scale of the corporate investment has not insulated either effort from friction.

In late April, more than 120 Altadena residents and the Altadena Town Council wrote to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors asking officials to temporarily halt the undergrounding work. The residents said SCE’s execution had produced “manifest failures,” citing unexpected costs of $8,000 to $10,000 or more per household to connect rebuilt homes to the new underground lines — a cost Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro acknowledged in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to the Los Angeles Times. Residents also raised concerns about damage to mature trees from trenching and the fact that telecom companies including Spectrum and AT&T have not agreed to bury their wires in Edison’s trenches, meaning overhead poles will remain in many areas.

SCE’s progress report, published on the company’s Energized by Edison platform, presented the undergrounding and compensation efforts in tandem. Brad Pensak, the utility’s senior manager of targeted undergrounding and wildfire rebuild, said crews began by rebuilding overhead lines with covered conductor before shifting to the 63-mile underground commitment.

“We’re helping a community put the pieces back together, and seeing that firsthand — through site visits, community engagement and daily interactions — really reinforces why we’re doing this work,” Pensak said in the article.

The compensation program’s six-month numbers, according to SCE’s April 29 newsroom release: nearly 3,200 claims submitted on behalf of more than 9,500 individuals, trusts, and legal entities; more than 1,500 offers extended to nearly 3,800 claimants, totaling more than $500 million; more than 1,000 offers accepted; and more than $100 million paid to more than 750 claimants.

“Passing $500 million in offers reflects both the scale of need and our commitment to respond with urgency,” Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, said in the release.

Christian Garcia, SCE’s principal manager of customer operations, described the program as designed to deliver results faster than litigation. “The program is designed to help people receive fair offers and fast compensation, without spending years in litigation, so families and businesses can begin their recovery sooner,” Garcia said in the Energized by Edison article.

Filing a claim does not waive a claimant’s rights, and receiving an offer does not waive rights either, according to SCE. The program is voluntary. Claims for total or partial structure loss and non-burn damages such as smoke, soot, or ash can be submitted through Nov. 30, 2026, at sce.com/directclaims.

SCE opened the Altadena Rebuild & Community Hub, known as ARCH, in late April at 2680 Fair Oaks Ave. in Altadena. The walk-in center operates Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is staffed with planners and consumer affairs specialists to assist with permitting, undergrounding questions, and the claims process. Walk-in support also continues at the LA County Permit One-Stop at 464 W. Woodbury Rd., Suite 210, Altadena. The claims support line is 888-912-8528.

The undergrounding project is part of SCE’s broader rebuild plan, announced in April 2025, which estimated costs of $860 million to $925 million to underground and rebuild distribution infrastructure in Altadena and Malibu combined. That plan called for 153 circuit miles of undergrounding total. The current 63-mile figure for Altadena represents a subset of that total, though SCE has not publicly reconciled the numbers in detail.

The Energized by Edison article carries a disclosure stating that communications for the compensation program are funded by ratepayers.

Altadena’s rebuild continues on multiple tracks — power lines going underground, claims being processed, homes rising from foundations. The ARCH center on Fair Oaks sits in the middle of it, a walk-in office where the questions are specific and the answers are personal: Will my street go underground? How long until my offer comes? When can I turn the lights back on?