Edison International boosted the pay of its top executives last year despite their responsibility for the safety of the company\u2019s power lines before the devastating Eaton fire, which destroyed a wide swath of Altadena and killed 19 people.<\/p>\n
Although the company cut cash bonuses for its senior executives, citing the wildfires, their overall compensation went up substantially as the utility\u2019s profit soared in 2025.<\/p>\n
Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of the parent company of Southern California Edison, received $16.6 million in cash, stock and other compensation last year, up 20% from 2024, according to a new company filing.<\/p>\n
Steven Powell, president of Southern California Edison, received compensation totaling $6.5 million last year, up from $3.9 million in 2024 \u2014 a jump of more than 65%.<\/p>\n
The utility\u2019s transmission equipment is suspected of igniting two wildfires on Jan. 7, 2025, including the Eaton fire, which left thousands of families homeless. <\/p>\n
The Times earlier detailed how Edison fell behind in performing maintenance<\/a> on its aging transmission lines \u2014 work that it had told state utility regulators was needed. County prosecutors are investigating<\/a> whether Edison should be criminally charged for its actions before the fire. <\/p>\n The government investigation into the cause of the fire has not been released and Edison has denied that it acted negligently. Pizarro has said a leading theory<\/a> is that a century-old transmission line, which the company had not used for 50 years, may have briefly reenergized, igniting the fire.<\/p>\n A state law championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 protects utilities from paying for the damage due to fires sparked by their equipment. When it passed, Newsom touted the law\u2019s requirement that utilities must tie executive compensation to their safety record, saying it would keep them accountable.<\/p>\n The law said that a utility \u201cmay\u201d consider tying 100% of executive bonuses to safety performance and \u201cdenying all incentive compensation in the event the electrical corporation causes a catastrophic wildfire that results in one or more fatalities.\u201d<\/p>\n Edison said in the new filing<\/a> that the company\u2019s board members who determine executive compensation decided to decrease the cash bonuses of Pizarro, Powell and Jill Anderson, the utility\u2019s chief operating officer, because of the 2025 wildfires.<\/p>\n Pizarro\u2019s cash bonus was cut by more than $1 million while Powell\u2019s was trimmed by $442,000, according to the filing. Anderson lost out on $244,000.<\/p>\n The company, based in Rosemead, said its decision to cut the three executives\u2019 cash bonuses \u201cwas not a reflection of the performance of the company or these executives.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite those cuts, the executives\u2019 total pay of salary, bonuses, stock and other compensation rose, according to the filing. That\u2019s because Edison ties most executive compensation not to safety, but to the company\u2019s financial performance.<\/p>\n And last year, Edison\u2019s profit jumped more than 200% \u2014 from $1.3 billion in 2024 to $4.5 billion \u2014 despite the Eaton disaster.<\/p>\n The profit increase resulted from the protections from wildfire damage provided to Edison by the 2019 law, as well as a 13% hike<\/a> in customer electricity rates in October.<\/p>\n The utility attributed the higher electric bills to several increases that it successfully lobbied<\/a> the California Public Utilities Commission to approve. All five members of the commission were appointed by Newsom.<\/p>\n Scott Johnson, an Edison spokesman, said Tuesday that Pizarro and other company executives holding stock took a financial hit after the fires when the price plummeted.<\/p>\n Before the January fires, Edison International\u2019s stock price was about $80. It fell to $50 the next month. It has recovered much of its value, closing on Tuesday at $72.92.<\/p>\n Edison is facing hundreds of lawsuits by victims of the fire. The suits claim it acted negligently, including by failing to remove<\/a> the old, dormant transmission line in Eaton Canyon. <\/p>\n The lawsuits also blame Edison for not preventatively shutting down<\/a> its transmission lines Jan. 7, 2025, despite the dangerous Santa Ana winds.<\/p>\n Pizarro has said the winds didn\u2019t meet<\/a> the company\u2019s threshold in place at the time for turning off those high-voltage wires. <\/p>\n \u201cOur deepest sympathies remain with all those affected, and this loss reinforces our commitment to public safety and wildfire risk mitigation,\u201d Pizarro and Peter Taylor, chairman of the parent company\u2019s board, wrote in a letter to shareholders that was released with the details on executive compensation.<\/p>\n The two executives added that the company\u2019s \u201clong-term objective remains unchanged: to significantly reduce wildfire risk while improving safety, reliability and affordability of electric service.\u201d<\/p>\n Edison is now offering to compensate<\/a> Eaton fire victims, including those who lost their homes, family members, businesses and apartments. The offer requires the victims to give up their right to sue the utility. Many survivors say the utility\u2019s offer falls short <\/a>of what they lost.<\/p>\n Pizarro and Taylor wrote that as of March 4, more than 2,500 claims had been submitted through the program. So far, Edison has extended offers to roughly 600 victims submitting claims and made payments totaling $31 million to 212 of those people, they wrote.<\/p>\n The utility also has begun settling claims of property insurers that covered Altadena homes that were destroyed or damaged, paying out hundreds of millions of dollars. The settlements will help cover the insurance companies\u2019 losses.<\/p>\n Edison has told its shareholders that it expects most or all of those payments to victims and insurers to be covered by a $21-billion state wildfire fund<\/a> that Newsom and lawmakers created as part of Assembly Bill 1054, which became law in 2019.<\/p>\n Critics say the law went too far, allowing a utility to allegedly spark a deadly wildfire without financial consequences to the company or its executives. <\/p>\n \u201cThe predictable outcome of continuing to protect shareholders and executives from the consequences of their own negligence is not theoretical. It is observable. More catastrophic fires,\u201d Joy Chen<\/a>, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, wrote in an email to state wildfire fund administrators this year.<\/p>\n Johnson responded, saying,\u201dOur motivation to prevent fires and any incidents is to be good neighbors and provide affordable and resilient energy. There is nothing more important than safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor was on the board committee that approved the compensation package for Pizarro and other top executives. For his work chairing the board, Taylor received cash and stock compensation of more than $500,000. <\/p>\n Johnson said Taylor\u2019s compensation was based on \u201ctypical board chair pay\u201d at other utilities.<\/p>\n The new filing said Pizarro\u2019s total compensation of $16.6 million was 75 times the median Edison employee\u2019s total compensation of $220,000.<\/p>\n The present value of Pizarro\u2019s pension is more than $19 million, the report said.<\/p>\n The company is facing a challenge from one of its shareholders \u2014 John Chevedden of Redondo Beach, according to the filing.<\/p>\n Chevedden is asking the company\u2019s shareholders to vote to approve his proposal that would require Pizarro and other Edison executives to hold at least 25% of the stock they had received as compensation until they reach retirement age.<\/p>\n He said that requiring utility executives to hold a significant portion of their stock until retirement would focus their efforts on the company\u2019s long-term success.<\/p>\n