Edison International earnings rose nearly 32% in 2025 despite the uncertainty swirling around its Southern California Edison subsidiary, which has been implicated in sparking the January 2025 Eaton Fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures in the Los Angeles area.
Edison’s 2025 earnings came in at $2.5 billion ($6.55/share), compared with $1.9 billion ($4.93/share) in 2024.
Q4 core earnings were $717 million ($1.86/share), up from $405 million ($1.05/share) in the same period a year earlier.
Earnings increased primarily due to cost recoveries associated with the Woolsey Fire settlement agreement and approval of the IOU’s 2025 general rate case, Edison said in a news release.
But the company is currently unable to reasonably estimate a range of potential losses stemming from the Eaton Fire, CEO Pedro Pizarro said during a Feb. 18 earnings call.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing. An idle, de-energized SCE transmission facility has been identified as the likely source of the ignition of the fire. (See SCE Probes Link Between Equipment and Eaton Fire.)
“SCE is not aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition,” Pizarro said. “Absent additional evidence, SCE believes that it is likely that its equipment could have been associated with the ignition.”
“We continue to believe SCE will be able to make a good-faith showing that its actions were those of a reasonable utility operator, so that gives us a lot of comfort,” Pizarro said.
“Can you confirm for me whether the out-of-service transmission tower in Eaton was grounded or not?” said Aidan Kelly, research analyst with JPMorganChase, on the call.
“We have shared before that transmission line — the idle line — was grounded at both ends,” Pizarro said. “[But] we have photographic evidence that at the far end of the line that showed some anomalies, some potential issues, with that grounding.”
SCE started a wildfire recovery compensation program for victims of the fire, with more than 2,300 claims submitted. About 18,000 properties are eligible for the program, Pizarro said.
“You might have multiple claimants per property — for example, if you have multiple tenant property. So we could see a few tens of thousands of claims ultimately if everyone was to participate,” he said.
Nick Campanella, senior research analyst with Barclays, asked: “As you are continuing to get more visibility on the total liability [of the Eaton Fire], when you do you think you’ll have the low end of losses for the total event and what is the complicating factor at this point?”
“In terms of when we’d be able to estimate, we really don’t have an estimate because a lot depends on the pace of this” claims and investigation process, Pizarro said.
