CORRECTED - CORRECTED-Edison Intl penalized by regulator for fake data
(Replaces headline to show fines do not total $146 million, which is figure of fine, lost incentive payments and refunds. Fixes lead to clarify same point.)
LOS ANGELES, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Southern California Edison will have to offer customer refunds, pay fines, and forego future incentive payments, totally worth about $146 million, because it faked customer satisfaction and health and safety survey data, the California utility regulator board voted on Thursday.
SCE workers and management submitted false data to the California Public Utilities Commission from 1997 to 2003, the investor-owned utility admitted.
SCE received $80.7 million in performance bonuses from the CPUC and said it was due for $35 million more in rewards for good performance in three different incentive programs.
On Thursday, the utilities commission voted unanimously to penalize SCE, the main subsidiary of Edison International (EIX.N), based in suburban Los Angeles.
SCE will have to refund $80.7 to its customers, forget about the $35 million more incentives it requested, and pay a fine of $30 million, for violations to the state's public utilities code.
An administrative law judge in September 2007 said SCE should be penalized $200 million in fines and lost financial incentives. SCE appealed and the commission acted on that appeal on Thursday.
The utility had proposed a total of $51.9 in fines and penalties.
"Edison's customers have paid $81 million in rates that they should not have paid as a result of Edison's behavior," said CPUC Commissioner Rachelle Chong, author of the decision adopted by the utilities commission.
"A substantial fine is appropriate given the length, number, and severity of the violations and will help deter future violations by Edison and others," said Chong.
SCE admitted in a statement that the issue "represented a very serious breach of SCE's responsibility".
CPUC President Michael Peevey, a former president of Edison International and SCE, said SCE cooperation in the probe did not negate the fact that false data was submitted.
Peevey worked for Edison International and SCE for eight years starting in 1984.
SCE said it voluntarily reported the problems with the data. In 2007, it said it fired 11 people and disciplined 46 others.
SCE said it had taken measures to prevent the problems from resurfacing. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
