Southern California Edison history

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

The origins of the company lie with the grand scheme of business magnate Henry E. Huntington and hydraulic engineer John S. Eastwood, developed around 1908, for a vast complex of reservoirs to be constructed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.

In 1909, Edison was first incorporated as Southern California Edison Company after Southern California acquired the assets of Edison Electric Company.

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.

1911: Transmission lines to Los Angeles

However, in 1912, Huntington sold Southern California Gas in order to bolster his finances for the successful completion of the hydroelectric Big Creek Project in the southern Sierras.

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.

1926: The multiple arches of Florence Lake Dam

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

Many of the engineers, hard-rock miners, and other workers employed on the project were veterans of the Big Creek Project, which wound down in 1929.

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.

The office opened its doors in 1931.

1937: As Los Angeles grew, its need for electricity soared

1943: Edison & the Manhattan Project

1947: Post-war expansion in California

SCE built a generating station at El Segundo in 1954.

In 1957, SCE became the first investor-owned utility in the United States to generate electricity commercially from a nuclear reactor.

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.

In 1961, the last of Henry Huntington's Red Car line — on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach — ceased operating.

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%, the company began to enter long-term oil supply contracts in anticipation of this reversal continuing.

1972: Starting construction of San Onofre units 2 and 3

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.

1978: Research in wind power technologies

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

In 1981 it purchased the steam required to produce about 10,000 kilowatts of power from a geothermal well operated by Union Oil Company of California.

Solar 1 began operating in 1982.

1983: Introducing Edison Mission Energy

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

Edison's inaugural venture into the "independent power generation" business, the Kern River Cogeneration Project, began operating in 1985.

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.

1991: Regulators say no to merger with SDGE

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.

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

1997: Sale of gas-fired steam plants

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.

With more than 13 000 employees, Edison International is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.

2001: Edison faces bankruptcy during its home state's energy crisis.

2002: Sale of EME's international assets

2007: Expanding wind generation to 14 states

2009: Replacing 5 million meters with smart meters

2012: The end of Midwest Generation

2013: Edison acquires SoCore Energy