Fire Survivors Face Up to $40,000 to Connect to Edison’s New Underground Lines

Altadena residents trying to rebuild are encountering a new financial obstacle: connecting to Southern California Edison’s underground power lines could cost them $20,000 to $40,000, according to residents affected by the work.

The connection costs are not covered by homeowner insurance, and neither the utility nor any government agency has secured funding to help offset the expense.

The figure is significantly higher than what Edison’s chief executive estimated in April 2025, when he told Governor Gavin Newsom that homeowners could face $8,000 to $10,000 to connect.

“They’re going to put a transmission line in the middle of my driveway and it’s going to be my job to figure out how to get power to it at my expense,” Conner Cipolla, the corresponding secretary of the Altadena Town Council, told KTLA 5 TV news. Cipolla has been displaced from his home since the fire.

“On top of all the expenses that we’re having to fight insurance for over the last year, now they’re going to add another $20,000 to $40,000 on top of it just so we can have power?”

Under California Public Utilities Commission-approved tariffs, homeowners bear the cost of connecting electric service from their property line to underground infrastructure.

The policy predates the fire.

The burden stings particularly for residents who believe the utility’s own equipment may be responsible for their losses. The cause of the Eaton Fire remains under investigation, but evidence suggests one of Edison’s idled power lines might have sparked the blaze that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures. Edison has acknowledged “the possibility” of its equipment being involved.

Scott Johnson, a spokesperson for Edison, said the utility understands residents’ concerns.

“Obviously, safety is Edison’s number one priority,” Johnson told KTLA. “As a part of Edison’s public utility commission-approved tariffs, homeowners do bear that cost to connect electric service from their property line to the undergrounding service. At the same time, we are exploring other opportunities, either through state or federal grants or other funding opportunities, and or philanthropic opportunities to offset some of those costs.”

Edison has not provided a timeline for when residents could expect financial assistance.

The utility is working with Los Angeles County to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency hazard mitigation grants that could offset connection costs, according to Karla Diaz Sayles, Edison’s vice president of local public affairs. But that funding has not yet materialized.

“The funding needs to be in place before this project continues any further, otherwise it’s entirely on us and that’s just not right,” Cipolla said.

Cipolla’s tone has shifted since April, when Edison first announced its undergrounding plan. At the time, he praised the proposal.

“This is exactly what Altadenans have been clamoring for,” Cipolla told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune in April 2025. “Every time I’ve talked to any of our constituents all I hear is, ‘underground the lines, underground the lines.’ This is a huge win for us if they carry through.”

Nine months later, the win feels hollow to many.

Nicole Wirth, an Altadena resident who lost her home and serves as a captain with the grassroots group Altagether, expressed broader concerns about transparency.

“We’re worried that everyone’s just going to sign these ROEs [rights-of-entry] and then we’re all footing the bill,” Wirth told LAist in August. “We don’t have a ton of trust in Edison right now, and we don’t have a ton of trust that the county is looking out for us.”

Some neighbors are advocating for homeowners to reject Edison’s right-of-entry requests and push for cheaper fire-suppression methods, such as covered conductors — insulated wire that costs about $900,000 per mile to install, compared with $3 million to $5 million per mile for undergrounding, according to LAist.

Edison’s targeted undergrounding plan calls for burying 63 miles of electrical lines across the Eaton Fire burn area. The effort requires 100 percent neighborhood participation; a single holdout can render an entire block’s undergrounding project unfeasible. Edison is offering $500 compensation to residents who sign right-of-entry agreements.

The overall rebuilding plan for Altadena and Malibu is estimated to cost $860 million to $925 million, according to a letter Edison’s CEO sent to Governor Newsom in April.

On January 18, Edison filed lawsuits against Los Angeles County, six water agencies, and Southern California Gas Company, alleging they share responsibility for the scale of the Eaton Fire’s destruction. Edison faces nearly 1,000 lawsuits from residents and businesses, as well as a September 2025 lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice. The company has launched a compensation program for victims who agree not to sue.

Altadena residents can get more information at Edison’s one-stop rebuild center or by visiting sce.com.

“The funding needs to be in place before this project continues any further,” Cipolla said. “Otherwise it’s entirely on us and that’s just not right.”