Southern California Edison - Essay Example

Based in Rosemead, California, the company was founded in the year 1886 by the name Holt & Knupps. They were "primarily a provider of street lights" then. (About, par.1) Later, in 1897, West Side Lighting Co. and Los Angeles Electric Co. merged to form Edison Electric Co. of Los Angeles. The company changed its name to Southern California Edison in 1909. Today's Southern California Edison is a 122 years old company, "serving more than 13 million people", (EI 1, par.1) providing reliable electric service covering more than "50,000 square miles" (EI 1, par.1) of central, coastal and central southern California, "employing more than 15,500 employees", (SCE 1, par.7) While going through the news releases of SCE, one happens to come across this recent article about "Safe holiday lighting tips.

"(EI 2, par.4) saying "As the excitement of the season sets in with decorative displays, many people are inadvertently exposed to a greater safety risk of becoming the victim of a fire or electrical accident, such as shock or electrocution." And the rest is about safety measures and light saving tips. It sounded more like an advisory. After going through it, one gets the feeling that they have written it less out of concern for their customers and more out of concern about the 'blame' people would put on their head in case if something went wrong and even if it wasn't their fault.

Not without a reason, since I came across another article in Los Angeles Times which said "Power lines are the suspected culprits behind 12 major fires destroyed 1041 homes and killed two people." (Mozingo, par.1) Somehow, I feel, this is another typical case of strained relations between a 'big' company not being able to keep 'all' its customers happy. A common observation involving monopoly businesses. Suppliers: Like every other 'big' company, SCE manages its suppliers in a very systematic manner.

SCE requires vendors for various purposes like managing scrap, meter data management, managing its ERP, energy procurement (natural gas and whole sale electric supplies), various materials, etc. One remarkable feature is that it does its energy efficiency program jointly with other utility companies viz. Pacific Gas and Electric Company and San Diego Gas and Electric Company. As such, vendors for efficient energy management are evaluated jointly. One very optimistic feature is SCE's active encouragement for renewable and alternative power generation.

In fact, it has a special power contracting option for smaller biomass generators so as to contribute towards California's renewable energy as well as environmental goals. Competitors: Until California's rush into energy deregulation in 1996, SCE had a tightly regulated but a 'natural' monopoly. Though it was intended to move towards a less regulated energy market so as to decrease the cost of electricity by fostering competition among producers, its practical effect has been divestment of generation facilities by utility companies.

SEC is the primary electric supplier for much of Southern California. However, the Los Angeles