Altadena Town Council members on Tuesday, Aug. 18, voiced concern over the lack of current funding to help offset costs to local homeowners from Southern California Edison’s ongoing utility undergrounding work.
At the council’s monthly meeting, Ciara Barnett, a representative of Los Angeles County’s newly created Rebuild Authority, provided an overview of the authority and the county’s role in the undergrounding work.
Barnett said the county’s role is limited to its permitting authority for work done by Edison in Altadena. The oversight agency for the utility is the California Public Utilities Commission, she said.
“We also have a responsibility to advocate for community, bring the right parties together and push for issues to be resolved when residents are not getting the information that they need or the coordination that they need,” Barnett said.
Edison’s undergrounding plan in Altadena — developed in the aftermath of the Eaton fire — includes 63 circuit miles of distribution lines, where properties have been severely damaged and infrastructure needs to be replaced.
However, town leadership and residents have raised concerns about the project costs for homeowners, disruptions to streets and impacts on local trees.
In April, the Town Council voted to send a letter to Supervisor Kathryn Barger asking for herself and the county to step in to advocate on behalf of residents’ concerns about the project.
Barnett said the county had submitted a FEMA grant application to help offset the costs to homeowners but that the FEMA money won’t be available until the end of 2027. That revelation adds to the growing frustration among Altadenans around the lack of federal support more than 18 months after the fire.
“It would be nice if we could get that FEMA money that was already promised to the county – looking at you Washington D.C.,” said Town Councilmember Milissa Marona, noting the need for more federal dollars for the recovery. “We still are waiting. Our people still are hurting.”
The grant would cover 75% of the cost, which the county has estimated will be about $24,500 per property, based on a “typical-size lot,” Barnett said.
In addition, those FEMA dollars will not be awarded retroactively, Barnett said.
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, Edison spokesperson David Eisenhauer said the average cost for customers for underground work on their property is $8,000.
He said examples of costs that lead to higher estimates for homeowners include: trenching, conduit, landscape/hardscape restoration, panel upgrades/relocation and nonelectrical utility work.
“Under SCE’s CPUC-approved tariffs, homeowners bear the cost to connect electric service at the property line to their home or business, and we are seeking alternative ways to fund this expense, including through federal or state funds or philanthropic sources,” Eisenhauer said.
According to SCE’s website, the seven Altadena circuits where undergrounding work is being done have target completion dates between 2026 and 2027.
Eisenhauer said that to date, about 7.5 miles of underground infrastructure has been completed in the Altadena rebuild area, with another four miles currently under construction, which are expected to be completed between August and November.
An additional seven miles of undergrounding projects are scheduled to begin construction in the coming weeks, with completion dates extending through the end of the year.
“While our work is spread across the community, the area with the greatest concentration of work is centered in the Northwest Altadena area,” Eisenhauer said.
Residents with questions about the ongoing undergrounding work or work related to their property can visit Edison at the Altadena Rebuild and Community Hub (ARCH) located at 2680 Fair Oaks Ave. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
SCE can be reached by phone at 1-800-250-7339 for information about undergrounding work.
In the common questions section of its website, Edison said it will pay for work done in the street to underground, but that on private property the customer is generally responsible for “trenching, conduit and related work from the property line (or stub-out point) to their home’s electric panel.”
Altadena Town Council President Nic Arnzen said that according to Paradise Mayor Steve Crowder, when Pacific Gas and Electric admitted fault in causing the Camp fire, the utility helped with road repairs, compelled the CPUC to have undergrounding including telecommunications and covered the cost of going from the street on the private property directly to the home.
“So a precedent is set that a disaster stricken area can push for that,” Arnzen said. “That’s what they got out of it, so I wanted to know what we could ask for.”
Earlier this month, the Los Angeles County Fire Department released its official findings that found Southern California Edison’s equipment sparked the Eaton fire.