Long Beach settles with Edison

September 26, 2001

By KATE BERRY The Orange County Register

The city of Long Beach agreed to a tentative settlement Tuesday with Southern California Edison - though it depends on the utility getting a bailout from the Legislature.

The Long Beach City Council voted to accept an agreement in which the city would receive cash for 10 percent of the estimated $14 million in debt owed by Edison. The city would get notes for the rest of the money. Edison owes the money for power a city waste-to-energy plant delivered to the utility.

If no legislative solution is reached by Dec. 31, Long Beach will pursue its lawsuit against the utility to recover the money.

"We want the money back," said City Attorney Bob Shannon. "We're satisfied that it's not to the city's advantage to have Edison go into bankruptcy."

Gov. Gray Davis has reconvened a third special session of the Legislature on Oct. 2 to push through a bill to save Edison.

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), September 28, 2001