Edison International History

In 1887, the first commercial hydroelectric plant in the West was built at the community of Highgrove near the City of Riverside.

Likewise, in 1890, the Ventura Land and Power Company installed hydroelectric generation to power arc lights in downtown Ventura, thereby catching up with their Santa Barbara neighbor further up the coast.

In 1891, local businessman Henry Sinclair and Doctor Cyrus G. Baldwin, the first president of Pomona College, co-founded the San Antonio Light and Power Company.

1892: Introducing three-phase alternating current generation

In 1894, the recently constructed Mill Creek hydroelectric plant powered electric pumps installed to irrigate many of the orange groves in Redlands.

In 1895, The Kaweah Power and Water Company was formed to survey the potential development of hydroelectric facilities on the Kaweah River above Visalia and Tulare County.

Most history texts consider the Niagara Falls to Buffalo, New York transmission line as the first long-distance electric line in the nation built in 1896, but the reality is that Decker did it four years earlier in San Antonio Canyon.

To eliminate the growing overhead clutter of power, telegraph, and telephone lines in downtown Los Angeles, the City Council adopted an undergrounding ordinance in 1897.

1898: Hydroelectric power & the Santa Ana River

The Azusa Hydro Plant began transmitting power into Los Angeles along a 23-mile transmission line in 1899.

1902: Henry Huntington & the electric trolley

By 1903, Eastwood had completed an exploration of the hydroelectric potential in the area of Shaver and Huntington Lakes.

1904: Investing in the Kern River Co.

In 1906, the Ventura County Power Company was incorporated and acquired the electricity systems in Ventura, Oxnard, and Santa Paula.

1907: The world's highest-voltage transmission line

Southern California Edison was organized in August 1909 to acquire all of Edison's properties.

In his quest for electricity to power his growing trolley empire, Henry Huntington would eventually pour massive financial resources into developing Big Creek beginning in 1910.

1912: City of Los Angeles buys facilities from SCE

1913: Building Big Creek to supply electricity to Los Angeles

1914: Selling excess power to Ventura County

Also in 1917, the city of Los Angeles purchased Edison's distribution system inside the city, and began to buy power wholesale from Edison for its municipal plant.

1920: Sale to City of Pasadena

In 1921, SCE had four 18-foot kayaks built and, in partnership with the United States Geological Survey, began a survey of 800 miles of the Colorado River from Green River, Utah to Needles, California to determine the best location for hydroelectric dams.

Through 1928, the area's population was growing so rapidly that Edison had no problem using this greatly increased capacity.

By the end of 1930, revenues had reached $41 million, and the balance Edison had achieved between hydroelectric and steam generation helped protect the company against fluctuating earnings due to weather problems or fuel-price hikes.

1931: The world's largest man-made lake

In 1939, SCE began receiving its share of power from Hoover Dam across a 220 kilovolt transmission line that had just been completed.

Late in 1943, Southern Sierra capitulated and sold its local facilities to IID.

In 1946, SCE switched its 50-cycle system to a 60-cycle system to conform with this standard.

SCE built a generating station at El Segundo in 1954.

1956: Investing in smog research & pollution control

One of these was the Huntington Beach Steam Plant that began operations in 1958.

In 1960 almost half of Edison's power output was fueled by natural gas, more than one-third by oil, and the rest primarily hydroelectric.

1962: Expanding to Catalina Island

1964: SCE merges with CalElectric

In 1968, SCE completed construction of its 450 megawatt San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1.

By 1970 when the share fueled by natural gas was down to 56 percent, the company began to enter long-term oil supply contracts in anticipation of this reversal continuing.

Mohave Generating Plant began operations in 1971.

By 1973 Edison ranked behind only New York's Consolidated Edison, Chicago's Commonwealth Edison, and the Southern Company of Atlanta, Georgia in gross revenues for electric companies, bringing in nearly $1 billion.

In 1978, SCE and Union Oil agreed to design, construct and operate a 10-megawatt geothermal power plant at Brawley, near the Salton Sea.

In 1980 Edison began generating 3,000 kilowatts with a wind-powered turbine at San Gorgino Pass near Palm Springs, California.

In 1981 oil, gas, and coal supplied the fuel for 70 percent of the company's 15.5-million kilowatt capacity.

Bryson, a former head of the CPUC, had joined Edison in 1984 as chief financial officer.

By 1987 Edison was the second-largest electric-generating company in the United States, earning a company record $789 million that year.

Company records were set in 1990 in both earnings and revenue.

The company's financing arm, Edison Capital, began investing in affordable housing projects and in 1993 started to provide financing to the Dutch national rail authority.

1995: Acquisition in Wales

1996: SCEcorp changes its name to Edison International; deregulation begins in California's energy sector.

California's market opened up to competition in 1998, which marked the beginning of a chaotic period for California's citizens, the state's utilities companies, the government, and investors around the world.

1999: Edison Mission Energy in Indonesia & New Zealand

2005: Extending useful life of San Onofre plant

2009: Obama visits SCE electric vehicle facility

2010: San Onofre plant's new steam generators