SCE wildfire plan calls for 260 miles of new underground lines across Southern California
(UI) — Southern California Edison (SCE) has filed its 2026-2028 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) with California’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, outlining $6.2 billion in grid safety improvements, including major undergrounding and covered conductor upgrades.
The three-year plan proposes installing at least 260 circuit miles of new underground distribution lines and 440 miles of covered conductor. The undergrounding effort is a central strategy to reduce ignition risks in high fire-threat areas.
“We developed our three-year plan with a layered defense strategy to help safeguard our communities against wildfire threats,” said Steven Powell, SCE president and CEO.
The plan also includes expanding early fault detection systems, vegetation monitoring through remote sensing, and AI-enhanced grid inspections. SCE plans to use alternative undergrounding methods, such as placing protected lines at ground level when trenching is impractical, to speed up hardening efforts.
SCE said tools like Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) will still be used to prevent wildfire ignitions, though customer support for PSPS-affected areas will be expanded.
“PSPS saves lives,” said Jill C. Anderson, executive vice president and COO. “We identified nearly 90 potential ignition sources during the January windstorm that were avoided thanks to PSPS.”
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