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For more than 100 years, Edison International has been leading the way in electricity. Our roots lie in Southern California in the 1880s, when various small companies began experimenting with power generation and transmission. Pioneers and people of vision led California into the new 20th century. From that collaboration came innovation and the founding of a new industry.
That is the heritage we claim at Edison International; a legacy driven by our values—integrity, excellence, respect, continuous improvement and teamwork—that have made historical firsts possible and that will continue to bring value to our customers and communities through the next 100 years.
1886
Holt and Knupps illuminates Visalia, California, street lights. Earliest predecessor of Southern California Edison Company.
1887
California's first hydroelectric plant begins operation at Highgrove.
1894
Los Angeles Edison Electric Company is created, owns franchises to Edison patent rights and "Edison" name.
1897
West Side Lighting Company, with its Los Angeles power system franchise, combines with the Los Angeles Edison Electric Company to form The Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles.
1899
Edison's Santa Ana River No. 1 hydroelectric plant begins operation, transmitting power to Los Angeles over the world's longest power line (83 miles).
1905
The company president introduces the motto, "Good Service, Square Dealing, Courteous Treatment."
1907
Edison's Kern River-Los Angeles Transmission Line begins operation. At 118 miles and 75 kV, it is the world's longest and highest voltage power line, and the first line in the nation to be entirely supported by steel towers.
1909
The company changes its name to Southern California Edison Company (SCE).
1913
Pacific Light and Power Corporation (later acquired by SCE) energizes Big Creek Power House No. 1 and the Big Creek Eagle Rock Transmission Line, marking the initial startup of the world's largest hydroelectric project.
1927
Southern Sierras Power Company (later acquired by SCE) drills the first geothermal power production well in the United States.
1963
California Electric Power Company, serving 450,000 customers over a 41,500-square-mile area, merges with SCE.
Construction begins on San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Unit 1 begins operation in 1968. Units 2 and 3 begin operation in 1983 and 1984, respectively.
1971
SCE completes and occupies the General Office building in Rosemead, California.
1980
SCE is the first electric utility to make a large-scale commitment to the development of renewable and alternate energy resources.
1985
SCE establishes a non-utility subsidiary, a predecessor to Edison Mission Energy.
Edison Mission Energy's first cogeneration project, Kern River Cogeneration, achieves commercial operation.
1987
SCE establishes a predecessor to subsidiary Edison Capital.
1988
The company forms a parent holding company for the electric utility subsidiary, SCE, and the non-utility subsidiaries.
Edison Mission Energy achieves commercial operation at two large California cogeneration plants, Sycamore and Watson.
1989
Edison Capital begins its first affordable housing investments.
1992
Edison Mission Energy goes international with its investment in the Roosecote project in England.
1993
Edison Capital makes its first international investment with the Dutch national rail authority.
1994
Edison Mission Energy's Loy Yang B plant in Australia completes its first full year of operation with excellent results.
1995
Edison Mission Energy acquires the Dinorwig and Ffestiniog pumped-storage hydroelectric facilities in Northern Wales.
Edison Capital places its 100th affordable housing project in service.
1996
The holding company name changes to Edison International to symbolize the broader scope of its business in a changing marketplace.
1997
Edison International's leading performance in global power production continues with Edison Mission Energy's work on projects in development or under construction in Indonesia, Italy, Turkey, the Philippines and Thailand.
Edison Capital invests in the Eems power station in the Netherlands and an electric power transmission system in Australia.
1998
California's electric utility industry shifts to an open marketplace, changing the way SCE and the state's other investor-owned utilities do business.
Edison International expands its global prominence through Edison Capital's investments in ESKOM, a coal-fired power plant in South Africa; Law Hospital in Scotland as part of the United Kingdom's Private Finance Initiative; and three wind-powered electric generating projects in the U.S.
1999
Edison International's Edison Mission Energy significantly adds to its portfolio of generating assets through its acquisitions of the Homer City Generating Station in Pennsylvania, 12 generating plants in Illinois, and two generating plants in the United Kingdom.
Edison International establishes Midwest Generation as a subsidiary of Edison Mission Energy. Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Midwest Generation assumes regional management of newly acquired fossil-fuel power plants in Illinois and Pennsylvania and underscores Edison International's commitment to environmental responsibility by undertaking nearly $500 million in projects that will significantly reduce air emissions at these facilities.
Edison Capital closes its 15th syndication of affordable housing properties and invests in the largest wind-energy project in the United States.
2000
Edison Capital invests in the telecommunications duct network of Swisscom, Switzerland's principal provider of telecommunications services.
2001
EMG subsidiary Edison Mission Energy adds much needed power-supply relief with the ahead-of-schedule completion of its 320-MW Sunrise power project, just north of Bakersfield, Calif. In its second phase of development, the plant would convert to a combined-cycle operation by adding heat recovery steam generators and a steam turbine to produce 560 MW of efficient generation.
2002
SCE receives the Champion of Energy Efficiency award from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy for its efforts during the 2001 energy crisis. SCE's contribution helped the state in its time of crisis reduce demand by as much as 12 percent.
2003
Midwest Generation's Powerton Station, part of Edison Mission Group (EMG), sets a new annual power-production record—964,579 net-megawatt hours, breaking a previous record set more than seven years prior.
EMG subsidiary Midwest Generation celebrates the 100th anniversary of its Fisk Generating Station. The plant was instrumental in the original development of the city of Chicago.
2004
Edison International takes a bold step in asking regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders in the Western United States to join in developing comprehensive national programs to address global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide. The company touts its position as the nation's leading purchaser of renewable energy.
2005
SCE begins operations at its new Mountainview plant, the first new major power plant in the Los Angeles Basin in 30 years, providing up to 1,054 MW to one of the nation's fastest growing regions.
2006
SCE signs the largest wind energy contract ever completed by a U.S. utility on Dec. 21, 2006. It secures for SCE customers 1,500 MW or more of power generated by new wind projects to be built in the Tehachapi area of California. The contract envisions more than 50 square miles of wind parks in the Tehachapi region—triple the size of any existing U.S. wind farm.
Edison introduces SmartConnect™, SCE’s advanced metering system, setting the industry standard for advanced technology, cost-effectiveness, breadth of features and forward adaptability.
SCE again leads the nation in the amount of electricity saved by its customers through energy-efficiency programs.
2007
SCE continues to operate the nation’s largest private fleet of EVs. Since the program’s inception, SCE’s 300 EVs have traveled almost 14 million miles, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7,200 tons and other air pollutants by 1,600 tons.
SCE and Ford Motor Company join forces to advance a new transportation and energy vision. Together, the companies explore ways to make plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles more accessible to consumers, reduce petroleum-related emissions and improve the cost-effectiveness of the nation’s electricity grid.
SCE continues to be the leading provider of renewable energy sources—a position it has held for more than 20 years.
SCE unveils the Nation’s smartest neighborhood electricity circuit—"The Circuit of the Future."
2008
SCE completes first of its major commercial rooftop solar installations.
SCE Announces Record Performance Results for Plug-In Hybrid Battery.
SCE completes the largest environmental project of its kind in the United States– a 175-acre artificial giant kelp reef.
*We wish to thank William A. Myers, and Trans-Anglo Books, for allowing us to reprint the following information taken from the comprehensive historical text, Iron Men and Copper Wires: A Centennial History of the Southern California Edison Company, published in 1983.
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