Southern California Edison seeks to recover $1.6 billion of wildfire-related losses

(Reuters) - Southern California Edison, a unit of utility Edison International, said on Thursday it was seeking approval for a settlement agreement to recover nearly 60% of losses related to wildfires and mudslides in 2017 and 2018.

Under the agreement with the California Public Utilities Commission, if approved, the company would be authorized to recover about $1.6 billion of the $2.7 billion in losses related to the Thomas Fire, Koenigstein Fire and Montecito Mudslides.

The amount comprises about $1.3 billion of uninsured claims paid till May 31 and $300 million of legal and estimated financing costs.

The two wildfires, which started on the night of Dec. 4, 2017 and are collectively known as the Thomas fire, charred more than 280,000 acres (113,312 hectares), or about 440 square miles, including more than 150,000 acres of National Forest System land in Santa Barbara and Ventura countries.

It killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than 1,300 structures. The authorities had blamed the utility's power lines for the fire.

The Rosemead, California-based Edison International, however, had said it believed the fire started at least 12 minutes prior to any issue involving its equipment.

In February this year, Southern California Edison agreed to pay the U.S. $80 million to cover costs and damages incurred by the U.S. Forest Service from the fire.

The new settlement would also authorize the company to recover about $55 million of the total restoration costs of $65 million. Besides, the company has agreed to $50 million of shareholder-funded wildfire and public safety-related system upgrades.

(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)