subsidiary industry electric utilities headquarters rosemead california u.s. area served central coastal & southern california key people pedro pizarro president products electricity generation electric power transmission distribution number of employees 13 599 2013 1 parent edison international website www.sce.com sign for southern california edison company san vicente sub station southern california edison or sce corp the largest subsidiary of edison international nyse eix is the primary electricity supply company for much of southern california usa . it provides 14 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50 000 square miles . however the los angeles department of water and power san diego gas & electric imperial irrigation district and some smaller municipal utilities serve substantial portions of the southern california territory . the northern part of the state is generally served by the pacific gas & electric company of san francisco . southern california edison trucks lined up for delivery to help restore power in the wake of hurricane sandy 2012 . southern california edison sce still owns all of its electrical transmission facilities and equipment but the deregulation of california s electricity market in the late 1990s forced the company to sell many of its power plants though some were probably sold by choice . in california sce retained only its hydroelectric plants totaling about 1 200 mw and its 75 % share of the 2 150 mw san onofre nuclear generating station which has been shut down since january 2012 ; in june 2013 the company announced its intention to permanently close and decommission the nuclear plant . 2 also sce still owns about half of the 1 580 mw coal fired mohave generating station in laughlin nevada which supplied electricity to california nevada and arizona ; mohave closed in december 2005 amid concerns regarding water rights and coal supplies . the utility lost all of its natural gas fired plants which provided most of its electrical generation . the large aging plants were bought by out of state companies such as mirant and reliant energy which allegedly used them to manipulate the california energy market . 3 southern california edison s power grid is linked to pg & e s by the path 26 wires that generally follow interstate 5 over tejon pass . the interconnection takes place at a massive substation at buttonwillow . pg & e s and wapa s path 15 and path 66 respectively from buttonwillow north eventually connect to bpa s grid in the pacific northwest . there are several other interconnections with local and out of state utilities such as path 46 . in addition sce operates a regulated gas and water utility . sce is the sole commercial provider of natural gas and fresh water service to santa catalina island including the city of avalon california . sce operates the utilities under the names of catalina island gas company and catalina island water company . contents 1 history 1.1 settlement for blackout 1.2 shooting 2 renewable energy 3 electric vehicles 4 energy research and policy 5 labor practice controversy 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit the origins of the company lie with the grand scheme of magnate henry e. huntington and hydraulic engineer john s. eastwood developed around 1908 for a vast complex of reservoirs to be constructed in the sierra nevada mountains of central california . huntington founded pacific light and power one of the roughly two dozen companies he controlled at the time 4 to execute what would eventually become one of the largest hydropower systems in the united states the big creek hydroelectric project . pacific light and power was one of the predecessor companies to sce along with edison electric mt. whitney power & electric co. california electric power co. and others . 5 in november 2014 southern california edison announced a partnership with ice energy to provide more efficient energy storage by freezing water at night when electricity is cheaper . 6 in 2015 southern california edison began laying off american information technology employees and replacing them from h 1b visa immigrants from india ; the lay off of american employees affected 400 individuals and was due to the utility hiring infosys for its information technology needs . 7 the layoffs were questioned by members of the united states senate . 8 settlement for blackout edit southern california edison agreed to a 650 000 settlement for the 2011 blackout with ferc and nerc . 9 10 shooting edit main article southern california edison shooting on december 16 2011 a shooting occurred when an employee of southern california edison opened fire at an office building in irwindale killing two co workers and seriously wounding two others before committing suicide . renewable energy edit southern california edison allows its customer to obtain their electricity entirely from renewable sources by subscribing to a green rate . 11 in 2006 southern california edison planned to secure 1 500 megawatts or more of power generated from new projects to be built in the tehachapi pass wind farm area . the contract which more than doubles sce s wind energy portfolio envisions more than 50 square miles 130 km2 of wind parks in the tehachapi region which is triple the size of any existing u.s. wind farm . 12 in march 2008 southern california edison announced a 875 million project to build a network of 250 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power generation making it the biggest solar cell project in the nation . the photovoltaic cells will cover 65 000 000 square feet 6 000 000 m2 of rooftops in southern california and will generate enough power to serve 162 000 homes . 13 in 2009 southern california edison entered into a contract with solar millennium to purchase solar thermal power up to 726 mw . 14 southern california edison also entered into a contract with stirling energy systems to buy electricity from a 500 megawatt 4 600 acre 19 km2 solar power plant which was due to open in 2009 . 15 16 the purchase was canceled in late 2010 as changes in technology reduced the cost of photovoltaic based solar power to below that of solar stirling generated power . 17 this would have been the first commercial application of the dish stirling system . a different technology from the more familiar solar panel the dish concentrates solar energy by the use of reflective surfaces and by the use of the stirling heat engine to convert the heat into electricity . in 2014 southern california edison installed more than 600 000 lithium ion battery cells at a substation in tehachapi california in order to test storing power generated from an area that currently has 5 000 wind turbines . 18 in 2014 sce had a renewables mix of 23 % . 19 electric vehicles edit southern california edison has a number of resources and a rate designed specifically for electric vehicle users . 20 energy research and policy edit southern california edison has a long history of research in the energy arena . often this includes working with other companies and government entities . one example is the solarii feasibility generator which was a solar powered energy plant that could produce electricity 24 hours a day . this was done by heating molten salts that would hold the heat during the day and would be used to generate power at night . citation needed dr. john jurewitz served as director of regulatory policy for southern california edison for 15 years until his retirement in july 2007 . his major areas of research are in oil gas and electricity policy and greenhouse gas regulation . he has testified and participated in government sponsored proceedings addressing electric industry restructuring and energy policy at the state federal and international levels . 21 22 23 labor practice controversy edit in april 2015 southern california edison laid off about 400 it employees with an additional 100 it workers leaving voluntarily . 24 meanwhile the utility company hired infosys based in bangalore and tata consultancy services in mumbai which are among the largest users of h 1b visas . 25 about 70 % of the work to be done by tata and infosys will be completed offshore according to sce . the company claimed it had to lay off us based employees to stay competitive . sce was subsequently investigated by the us department of labor for potential h1 b visa abuse . 26 in october department of labor concluded infosys did not abuse the h1 b program in the dealings with sce while tata s case remained open . 27 see also edit energy use in california solar power plants in the mojave desert wind power in california list of articles associated with nuclear issues in california references edit . united states securities and exchange commission form 10k southern california edison company http www.sec.gov archives edgar data 92103 000082705213000024 eix201210k.htm form 10k southern california edison company check url value help . missing or empty title help southern california edison announces plans to retire san onofre nuclear generating station . edison international press release . june 7 2013 . retrieved 10 june 2013 . summary of ferc documentation relating to the western energy crisis 2000 2001 . retrieved 2013 06 10 . http www.huntington.org uploadedfiles files pdfs pr hugabouthenry.pdf http hdl.huntington.org cdm landingpage collection p16003coll2 richardson jake . 25 mw of ice energy storage for southern california edison . clean technica . sustainable enterprises media inc. retrieved 30 december 2014 . thibodeau patrick 4 february 2015 . southern california edison it workers beyond furious over h 1b replacements . computer world . retrieved 3 april 2015 . li shan ; morrison matt 10 february 2015 . edison s plans to cut jobs hire foreign workers is assailed . los angeles times . retrieved 3 april 2015 . street chriss w. 5 february 2015 . sce dumps american staff imports h 1b tech workers from india . breitbart . retrieved 3 april 2015 . kopetman roxana 17 march 2015 . senators question southern california edison s layoffs replacement with indian workers . orange county register . retrieved 3 april 2015 . ferc approves third settlement in 2011 southwest blackout case . ferc . southern california edison ferc and nerc reach settlement agreement nerc green rate standard residential rate plan . www.sce.com . southern california edison signs largest wind energy contract in u.s. renewable industry history southern california edison launches nation s largest solar panel installation . edison international . march 27 2008 . retrieved 2011 03 08 . solar millennium and southern california edison signed power purchase agreements . solar millennium . july 17 2009 . retrieved 2011 03 08 . sterling d. allan august 11 2005 . world s largest solar installation to use stirling engine technology . pure energy systems . retrieved 2011 03 08 . michael kanellos march 12 2007 . full steam ahead for nevada solar project . zdnet . retrieved 2011 03 08 . michael kanellos december 23 2010 . more bad news for stirling so. cal . edison cancels power purchase agreement . greentech . mcferron whitney october 13 2014 . giant battery unit aims at wind storage holy grail commodities . bloombergbusiness . biennial rps program update section 913.6 report january 2016 page 5 . california public utilities commission electric vehicles . www.sce.com . lutz mez mycle schneider and steve thomas eds . 2009 . international perspectives of energy policy and the role of nuclear power multi science publishing co. ltd p. 591 . california s climate change policy electricity pricing in transition edison s plans to cut jobs hire foreign workers is assailed . los angles times . los angles times . retrieved 14 december 2015 . southern california edison it workers beyond furious over h 1b replacements . computerworld . computerworld . retrieved 14 december 2015 . feds investigating southern california edison contractors after allegations of work visa abuse .