2. Background
SCE provides retail electric service to customers in fifteen counties in Southern California. The El Casco Project as proposed by SCE (Proposed Project) will create a new substation with associated subtransmission lines and control equipment to serve forecasted customer demand in the Cities of Calimesa and Beaumont, as well as the surrounding unincorporated areas of Riverside County (the Electrical Needs Area). The impacted substation facilities include both the local Maraschino 115/12 kV substation and the regional Vista 220/115 kV substation.1 The creation of the new El Casco 115 kV system would include the transfer of several substations, including Maraschino, Zanja and Mentone substations, from the existing Vista 115 kV system. This would relieve load from the Vista 115 kV system, which is expected to approach its available capacity limits by 2010.2
1 See Exhibit 1, page 1.
2 Id., page 2.
